


Burgess University

by chrystallinity



Category: Brave (2012), Disney Animated Fandoms, Dreamworks Animated Fandoms, How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-10-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 03:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4772114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrystallinity/pseuds/chrystallinity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Aren't you all adults?"<br/>"Well, honestly, we're more like adults-in-training."</p><p>College, careers, and quarter-life crises. Navigating through your early twenties isn't so bad. Sometimes, it's a hell of a lot worse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Ice Rink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack meets a student from Burgess University, an elite private school, but this guy isn't exactly the rich and snooty poster child that Jack would have expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing this on a whim, so the story might end up having bunch of holes. Hope you have fun reading, though!

Jack grabs the last of the ice skates to pack up for the night, careful to avoid the blades as he waved to his coworkers who were leaving out the front. After restoring the skates to their rightful places and seeing that everyone had gone out, he goes to the employee’s locker room to change out of his uniform, tugging the collared shirt over his head just as Kristoff popped in the doorway.

“Jack,” he calls out loudly, effectively startling his friend, who tenses up in surprised, and, with the shirt only half-way off, knocks his head into the side of his locker.

“Jesus, Kris!” Jack protests as Kristoff doubled over in laughter. “Don’t you knock?” he continues, rubbing the sore spot through his brown hair.

Kristoff inhales deeply, permitting one last chuckle to escape his lips. He crosses his arms and leans against the doorway. “Sorry. Just came in to remind you that Sandy’s putting you in charge of the new employee starting Monday, so you gotta show up an hour early to help them out before people start coming in.”

Mr. Sanderson, a rather short and silent man, is in charge of the Burgess Ice Rink. Of course, he does just fine managing the facility, but he never talks much. It’s  rather an amazing feat to be able to take charge without speaking.

Jack groans lightly, pulling on his blue sweatshirt and shutting his locker. Thanksgiving break, one of the busier times of the year for them, is ending, and just when Jack thinks he was off the hook, he’s totally forgotten about the trainee. Thankfully, Sandy always shows the new guys the few important basics before they can start, but working at the rink is more learning on the job, and you have to learn from one of the senior employees in your age group. In this case, it’s either Kristoff or Jack.

“Hey, I trained Sevan last time,” Kristoff tells him. “I mean, the guy’s nice and all, but I don’t know if I should be impressed or concerned about how calm and smiley he is all the time.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jack waves it off, slipping his duffel bag strap onto his shoulder and making his way out of the locker room. Kristoff closes the door behind him, and the two of them head outside. “Christmas season’s coming up in about a week. Guess I’ll just have to spend all that time making sure they’re prepared.”

“The kid’s an ice skater, I’ve heard,” Kristoff offers, hoping that will hold some interest for Jack as they lock the doors to the rink. “Or figure skater, whatever you call ‘em.”

“You don’t say.” Jack raises his eyebrows slightly as he looks at Kristoff. “I guess they would know their way around an ice rink, then.”

Jack locks up the rink, pulling his hood over his head. It’s a colder night than normal, and Jack is thankful that he hadn’t left the house in shorts. Approaching the bus stop, he sees another person sitting on the bench with his arms crossed. It’s only when Jack sits down next to him that he realizes the guy is sleeping. Seconds later, a cell phone starts ringing, making Jack jump a little in his seat, but the guy doesn’t wake up. The unfamiliar ringtone slowly gains volume. Bus Stop Guy remains unperturbed.

Jack reaches out and pushes lightly on the stranger’s shoulder. His head lolls to the side. Jack pushes him one more time, harder than he intends to, and the young man nearly falls over before he wakes up and notices that his phone is ringing. The stranger quickly rummages through his messenger bag, whipping out his phone and answering the call.

“Hello?” Jack hears him say. “Yeah, no, I’m fine. It went all right. I’ll tell you about it later. Sorry, my phone was off most of the day. Crap, it’s already that late?” The guy checks his watch. Then he starts looking through his bag again. “I don’t think I brought my student ID with me. Hopefully, I can make it before curfew—really? Thanks man, you’re a lifesaver. I owe you one. I’ll let you know when I’m back on campus.” He hangs up and sighs heavily.

“Dorm curfew?” Jack guesses, feeling sympathetic. The guy looks like he had had a rough day.

Bus Stop Guy turns to Jack like he’s just realized that he was sitting next to him. “Oh, uh, yeah. You can get in after curfew with your ID, but I left mine in my room. Can you tell I’m a lucky guy today?” He laughs dryly.

“What time do you have to be back?”

“11:30.”

“Isn’t that kind of early?” Jack knits his eyebrows. “Where’s your school?”

The stranger purses his lips. “Burgess University.”

Jack takes another look at him. Choppy brown hair, worn-out dress shirt, tired eyes. Most kids who go to Burgess University are haughty or proud, given the prestigious status of the university. It’s an expensive private school for the elite and ambitious, but the person sitting next to Jack doesn’t fit the normal description.

“My name’s Jack, by the way,” Jack says after a period of silence.

“Hiccup,” the stranger replies.

Jack raises his eyebrows. “You’re kidding.”

“It’s a nickname,” Hiccup assures him. “Unless you wanna call me Harold.”

“You don’t look like a Harold.”

“Exactly.”

“Hiccup it is, then.”

The two of them share a laugh, but Hiccup’s smile disappears almost as quickly as it had come. Jack sighed loudly.

“Okay, dude, spill,” he orders, facing Hiccup full on now.

Hiccup blinks. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Jack raises an eyebrow. “You look like you’ve risen from the dead, and you’ve got a permanent frown on your face. On top of that, you’re late for curfew, and, no offense, you don’t look like the kind of guy to break the rules.”

“I don’t even know you.”

“More reason to get rid of whatever’s weighing on your mind. Who am I gonna tell?”

Hiccup eyes Jack skeptically before conceding. “My girlfriend broke up with me.”

“Wow, it’s sounding like a chick flick already.” Jack sees the look Hiccup’s giving him. “Sorry, sorry. I’m listening.”

The conversation goes on even after the bus comes. Hiccup opens up pretty easily, which Jack isn’t expecting. The poor guy _does_ have a lot he needs to vent out.

He and his girl had been together throughout the first four years of college, and things had been going great. But Hiccup decided he wanted to pursue graduate school and applied to Burgess University. Of course, he was accepted, but it meant having to leave behind his long-term girlfriend, who decided she very much liked where she was at. They agreed to try long-distance as he moved to Burgess. Unfortunately, while he was on his second year of grad school, she had decided it was better that they broke off the relationship, and she came all the way to Burgess to tell him in person.

“Turns out one year of absence affected her more than four years of being together.” Hiccup sighs. “And that’s that.”

The story finishes just in time. As the bus pulls into his stop, Jack pats Hiccup’s shoulder. “Well, if you need to get your mind off of her, you can always come by to the Burgess Ice Rink. That’s where I work.” He stands up to leave.

“So this was all just a ploy to give your place some business?” Hiccup jokes. His mood seems to have improved.

Jack shrugs, grabbing his duffel and heading down the aisle of the bus. “Maybe,” he calls back over his shoulder. “See ya later, man.”

Kristoff had once grumbled about coming home to a huge, bustling family after a long day working at the rink. Ironically, Kristoff is the only kid in his immediate family, and his best friend is an excitable St. Bernard named Sven, but his they are pretty close with everyone in their neighborhood. It just so happened that his household is designated for community congregation. Being a recent college graduate, Kristoff’s trying to get his own place, but he’s having trouble finding an apartment complex that can accommodate Sven.

On the other hand, Jack comes home to a quiet house. Quiet, that is, until your ears pick up the low humming of electric tools coming from the back room, courtesy of North, who will  no doubt be handcrafting some sort of project.

Nicolas North is a larger-than-life, elderly man. He is a retired something (Jack never really asked), with white hair, a long beard, and a booming voice. North is muscular, at least six feet tall and towering over most people he meets. His Russian accent is noticeable but did nothing to hinder the excitement in his voice whenever he speaks. Beyond the intimidating stature, North is as warm-hearted as they come. What other kind of person can tolerate Jack while living in the same household? Jack mused once that North was probably Santa Claus undercover, and the fact that North made and repairs toys to give to less fortunate children entertains this theory of his.

When Jack swings open the the door to the back room, he finds North slaving over what looks like a gutted remote control car. Little bolts and wires spread all over the table and the panel on the underside of the model had been removed, leaving the mechanisms inside at the mercy of North’s pliers. The older gentleman looks up from his work.

“Back from the rink?” he asks cheerfully.

“Am I ever anywhere else this late at night?” Jack approaches North’s working table, inspecting the various parts and picking up a screwdriver to fiddle with.

“Late?” North’s laughed echoes through the room. “Why it’s only—” He lifts his wrist and squints at his watch. “—not even midnight! At your age, I would think that late is in the wee hours of the morning.”

“Let’s just say I’d rather spend the wee hours of the morning asleep in my bed.” Jack chuckles as he put down the screwdriver. “You didn’t forget to eat dinner again, did you?”

North pauses a moment to think. “I just heated up some leftover pizza. Should still be in the microwave.”

“Uh-huh.” Jack goes to the kitchen to verify North’s story. The pizza is there all right, but it had already turned cold again. North probably microwaved it hours ago and forgot about it. Jack sighs knowingly and reheats the dish. He figures he might as well get something for himself while he waits, so he searches the pantry for a bag of potato chips and found half a bag full. When the pizza is finished, he takes it and the chips with him back to the room.

“The feast of kings,” he announces, placing the plate in front of North. He grabs a chair and plants himself on the other side of the table, munching on his chips.

“Not much of a dinner,” North comments, gesturing towards Jack’s handful of junk food.

“Says the man with day-old pizza,” Jack retorts with his mouth full.

“So how was the ice rink today? Any different?” North asks his questions while tinkering with the toy car in his hands. “You seem more tired than usual.”

Jack shrugs. “The Thanksgiving rush is over, at least. Knocked my head into the lockers today. Kristoff’s fault.” He smirked. “Oh, and Sandy hired another one. Probably for the Christmas season.”

“A new recruit.” North nods, as if in agreement. “Well, you young ones never stay too long working at the ice rink.”

Jack purses his lips. “Except Kristoff.”

“And you,” North adds as he snips a wire coming from the RC car. “But if you don’t like working at the rink, we can always talk to Tatiana. She could probably use another receptionist at that dentist office.”

North and his band of friends seem to have connections everywhere. In fact, his friendship with Sandy is one of the major reasons that Jack was able to get a job at the rink. The elaborate networking makes life very convenient for North, who’s able to pull in favors as needed with just a few phone calls.

“No, thanks.” Jack puts his hand up. “I don’t do well sitting around all day. Besides, it’s been two years since I started working at the rink. I’m not about to quit now.”

_Groggy_ is not how Jack had wanted to wake up on Monday. Or any day, for that matter. He rolls over to check the time. 12:23 p.m. So much for morning.

North kept him up half the night with drilling and hammering, probably making another doll house or something of the sort. He must’ve been going at the project for hours. Jack can’t ask him about it since North is still passed out on the couch by the time Jack gets out of bed, but what’s done was done.

Runnings errands sounds like a good idea to clear his mind. After scarfing down some toast and downing a glass of orange juice, Jack checks the fridge again to see if they need anything.

Of course, the fridge is nearly empty.

“Okay then,” Jack says to himself. “Guess we’re gonna need eggs, milk, and everything else.”

Two years ago, it was never like him to be responsible for keeping house, but living with North is a different experience. North is there for him when Jack needs support, but because of how the old man busies himself so much, things like eating, housekeeping, and personal hygiene are all an “every man for himself” type of arrangement. But Jack often does enough chores for the both of them.

He makes a full sweep around the house, careful not to disturb North, to see if they’re in need of anything other than just food. Once he had a complete list, Jack leaves the house, but not before haphazardly tossing a blanket over North’s sleeping body.

By this time of year, it starts to snow in Burgess, which excites Jack. He doesn’t know why he likes the winter so much, but he did, and each snowfall seems like a blessing to him, even if the morning snow had melted away. Jack hops into North’s pickup truck and drives to the store, admiring the changing weather.

North is finally awake when Jack gets home, back in the work room. Since Christmas is coming soon, Jack knows that North is going to be much busier than usual preparing for the annual toy drive. It’s the only major event that North takes charge of, and it includes all his usual buddies to help out: Sandy, Tatiana the dentist, and a man named Elliot Aster who owns an art shop downtown. The toy drive means a lot to all of them; they’d been organizing it for years along with the Easter egg hunt in the spring. Because of their busy schedules, getting all four of them together is no easy task, but the toy drive makes for an exception.

“North, you’re gonna work yourself into a coma,” Jack warns him after he’s stashed away all the groceries.

“Don’t worry about it,” North insists. “Once I’m done here, the rest can go to Phil.” Phil was North’s right hand man when it came to handiwork. He and Jack butted heads quite often.

“If you say so.” Jack shrugs, turning to leave.

“What time is it?”

Jack checks his watch. “Almost 2 o’clock, why?”

“I just figured you had something to do today.” North says absent-mindedly.

“Nah, I still have time to get to work.” Jack freezes in his tracks. “Crap!”

He’d forgotten about the trainee.

“I was supposed to be at the rink early!” He groans, rushing back to his room to grab all of his stuff.

North smiles to himself.  “That’s what it was!” he says with self-satisfaction, still working. “For a second, I thought I was going senile.”

Jack is twenty minutes late to the rink; the doors had already been open. Sandy must’ve let the new kid inside already, so Jack makes a beeline for the locker rooms, changing his shirt as fast as he can and stuffing his duffel bag back in the locker. When he comes back to the front desk, he realizes there’s someone standing behind it.

She’s kind of short, with spiky, almost-white hair and blue eyes, and she’s dressed in the employee uniform: the blue polo shirt with ice rink logo embroidered on it. The girl stares at Jack with a curious look, mouth slightly open like she’s going to say something.

“Hey,” Jack says, approaching the counter and extending a hand. “You must be the new employee. I’m Jack. Sorry for being late; this usually doesn’t happen.”

The girl shakes his hand and smiles sweetly. “No problem. I’m Periwinkle, but most people just call me Peri.”

“Huh.” Jack chuckles. “I like that.” He straightens up and looks around. “So, I guess we oughta get started. First things first, what’s Sandy taught you already?”

The time goes by fairly quickly, and Jack appreciates Peri’s cooperation on the job. She listens picks up on most of what he’s telling her. Jack is relieved that he hadn’t gotten a difficult trainee. Peri was aware and diligent, which definitely makes his job easier.

He finds out that she’s a college sophomore who went to school in the next town over. She wanted to earn extra money, and when she found out that employees could use the rink for free, she applied right away.

“I’m part of the figure skating program at my school,” she explains after Jack showed her how to use the slushie machine in the snack bar. “It's just something I really like doing, you know?”

“I get it,” Jack tells her, nodding. “I’m a snowboarder.”

Peri’s face lights up like a child’s. “You like snowboarding?”

Before he can continue, the front doors fly open, letting in a brisk wind. Kristoff saunters in, followed by two other employees: Sloane, a charismatic young man with a killer smile, and Logan, a no-nonsense girl who had a knack for keeping people in line. The rest of the employees refer to her as Spike, since that’s her last name, and they feel it suits her.

Kristoff, Sloane, and Spike greet Jack with the usual hellos, asking him how the training was coming along. They exchange a few words, and Spike turns to Peri.

“At least we have another girl on the team,” she says, grinning. “My name’s Logan Spike. Gliss is actually another girl who works here, but her shift isn’t today.”

Sloane introduces himself next, but Kristoff cuts him short. “Come on, you two,” he says. “This place opens up in twenty minutes, so go get changed.” The three of them make their way to the locker rooms.

Jack laughs. “Well, since he forgot to introduce himself, that burly blonde guy was Kristoff. Sandy usually has the people in the ice rink work with others around their age, so he’s our shift manager.”

“Oh, okay,” Peri says, eyes following the group as they disappeared into the other rooms. She seems a little overwhelmed, but Jack doesn’t bring it up. Kristoff is the kind of guy who’s intimidating until you get to know him. She turns back to Jack. “So is he the oldest one here?”

“He and I are actually the same age.”

“Which is…?”

“Twenty-three.”

“You’re both finished with college, then.”

“Well, neither of us are going to grad school, so yeah.”

Peri nods like she’s content with those answers, but the small talk makes Jack just a bit uncomfortable. He isn’t much of a talker to begin with, and he never liked telling people too much about himself. When the rest of the employees on shift come back, Spike strikes up a conversation with Peri as they prepare more things in the snack bar, and Jack slips away, relieved to continue doing maintenance around the facility.

From the beginning, everything goes smoothly. Peri makes a couple of mistakes here and there, but they’re nothing that she can’t fix on her own. Jack has her on snack bar duty the whole time so she has time to get settled into the job, something he’s made every one of his trainees do. Depending on how she works, he might have her stationed there for a few more days before letting her move on to other things, like handling the equipment.

She is fitting into the environment very nicely, serving people with a genuine smile and complying with whatever tasks others need her to finish. It will take a little more time before she can take initiative, but at least she’s getting along well with Sloane and Spike. Jack is pleased with it, though, knowing that Peri’s work in the beginning will be seen as a reflection of him.

The ice rink closes and opens every two hours, allowing the employees to reset the whole facility before the next wave of customers comes in. After 5 o’clock, Kristoff gets out the Zamboni to smooth over the ice, Jack and Spike sharpen the skates, and Sloane and Peri clean up the snack bar. Once that’s done, the five of them take a food break, raiding the snack bar for hot dogs and nachos.

“Aw, Kristoff, we just mopped up!” Sloane grumbles when Kristoff drops some cheese on the tile floor.

“Relax, kid,” Kristoff assures him, taking a bunch of napkins and wiping up his mess. “There. All better.”

Suddenly there’s a loud tapping on glass. Everyone turns towards the front doors, confused because the ice rink didn’t open again until 7 o’clock. Kristoff throws away his cheesy napkins and heads towards the front, where a bubbly brunette girl was standing on the other side. She waves at him and grins while Kristoff chuckles, shaking his head. He unlocks the doors and comes straight into the snack bar area.

“Hey, guys!” She beams at them. “I know I’m not on shift today, but I just couldn’t wait!” Her eyes immediately fall on Peri, and she lets out something like an excited squeal as she takes a place next to her at the table. “You must be Peri. My name’s Gliss. Spike texted me about you, so I figured I had to come meet you right away.”

She rambles on as the rest of them look on in amusement. Peri easily accepts Gliss’ energy, and with Spike in the mix, the friendship grows pretty quickly.

“They’re like the three musketeers,” Kristoff muses as he finishes off the last of his nachos.

The 7 o’clock shift has a lot more zest than the 5 o’clock, with Gliss bouncing around from place to place to keep herself from getting bored. She’s not disruptive, but she is distracting to the other employees, so Kristoff suggests that she take a pair of skates and go out on the rink. Gliss insists that Peri join her.

“Oh, come on Kris!” she protests, tugging Peri’s arm. “I swear I won’t keep her long. Ten minutes! She’s an ice skater for crying out loud. You’re really going to let her stand here with the rink in full view and not let her use it? Plus, knowing Jack, he’s probably kept her on snack bar duty all day.”

Kristoff sighs, beaten by Gliss’ persistence. “All right, _ten_ minutes. But you have to stay after this last shift today and help us pack up for the night, Gliss.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, chief!” Gliss and Peri are already halfway gone.

“I can’t help but feel sort of attacked,” Jack laughs, patting Kristoff on the back. “It’s okay, Kris, we got it covered over here.”

The bell to the front door rings, and Kristoff and Jack turn to greet the customer. “Welcome to the ice rink,” they say, unintentionally in perfect unison. It catches both of them off guard, and the two glare at each other a moment when they realize how cheesy they sound.

“Wow, do you guys practice that or something?” the guy coming through the door pulls off his beanie and shakes out his hair, flashing a smile.

Jack recognizes him. “Hey, man!” He gestures between Kristoff and Hiccup. “Kris, this is Hiccup. Hiccup, Kristoff.”

Kristoff raises his eyebrows at the unusual name, but he doesn’t question it. He shakes Hiccup’s hand amicably. “Nice to meet you. You guys friends?”

“Eh. Sort of.” Hiccup shrugs nonchalantly. “Jack told me to come down, so I thought I’d check it out. I’ve never actually been here.”

“Do you know how to skate?” Kristoff asks. “Jack can rent you out a pair, and you can head out onto the ice.”

“Isn’t Spike stationed there right now?” Jack wonders.

Kristoff nudges Jack towards the skates. “Just tell her to switch with you. I gotta check on the hockey equipment for tomorrow’s classes. Besides, you can’t abandon your friend when he just got here. Plenty of time for that later.” With that, he leaves for the equipment storage.

“I feel so loved.” Hiccup sniggers as Jack leads him to the skates.

Jack laughs. “Kristoff’s like that, very blunt. Plus, he’s huge, so people tend to think he’s all rough-around-the-edges.”

“You mean he’s not?”

“Not all the time.”

Jack and Hiccup chat while getting the skates. The conversation is generally about the rink, its atmosphere, its employees. Both of them secretly avoid talking about themselves, mostly because  they feel there won’t be anything interesting to say.

Hiccup pulls on the ice skates just as Gliss and Peri come back from the rink. Gliss stops in front of them while Peri went ahead to change out of her skates.

“Hey, Jack!” Gliss turns to Hiccup and sticks her hand out to him. “Friend of yours? My name’s Gliss.”

Suddenly, Jack gets an idea. “Gliss, this is Hiccup. He goes to Burgess University.”

Gliss’ excitement is immediately evident. “No way! That’s such a great school. I know some people who go there. Maybe you’ve met them!”

“He came here by himself tonight, so he kind of needs a buddy on the ice.” Jack smirks slyly at Hiccup, who gives him an incredulous look. “Think he can join you?”

Hiccup tries to interrupt. “Uh, I don’t—”

“Sounds great!” Gliss beams. “Come on, Hiccup, it’ll be fun! All my friends here are working tonight, so do me a favor and keep me company, yeah?”

Jack laughs out loud at Hiccup’s subtly terrified face. “Hey, Gliss, go on ahead. He’ll join you in a second.”

As soon as she’d gone, Hiccup glares sharply at Jack.

“Don’t worry, man.” Jack props an elbow on Hiccup’s shoulder. “I’m not trying to set you up or anything.” He leans a little closer and whispers, “Gliss likes girls.”

Hiccup relaxes a bit. “Okay.” He sighs. “I don’t know. She seems nice, just—”

“Energetic?” Jack nods and pushes Hiccup forward. The brunet stumbles, barely catching himself. “I think a pick-me-up is just what you need, my friend.”

“So we’re friends now?” Hiccup raises an eyebrow.

“You tell me.” Jack grins. “Don’t leave Gliss waiting, now. She’ll come back to get you.”

Thankfully, Hiccup makes it out alive. Barely.

Gliss is a firecracker with a never-ending fuse. She laps him at least twice, goading him on, but instead of invigorating Hiccup, it just makes him wearier. He thought he had always been a decent skater until he sees Gliss careening swiftly through the clumps of people who are trying to keep their balance.

“Hiccup!” She stops by him long enough to laugh. “Are you even trying? I’m not even going that fast!”

 _Uh-huh,_ he thinks sarcastically. “It’s been a while,” Hiccup explains, leaning to grip on the wall.

This only seems to amuse her more. “All right, I get it. Don’t hurt yourself. And if you find yourself up for a race, let me know!” She zips away cheerfully. Hiccup thinks he hears her humming to herself.

“So much for keeping her company,” Hiccup jokes to himself, but Gliss’ enthusiasm has rubbed off on him a little. He glides on the ice more confidently, slowly but surely gaining speed. Maybe this can turn out to be fun after all.

After a few minutes he notices Gliss skating ten feet in front of him, cruising on the ice. Hiccup pulls up next to her, and she faces him with a broad smile.

“Look who made it!” she exclaims.

“Yup.” Hiccup blows some hair out of his face. “How about that race?”

 

“I totally won!”

“Only because there was a child in my way.”

“Oh, please, she was against the wall.”

Hiccup and Gliss continue to argue about the outcome of their last competition (their fifth race, to be exact) even after the final guests of the night had been ushered out. Hiccup had had the lead until a little girl allegedly cut off his path. In an effort to stop himself from running her over, Hiccup landed flat on his butt.

“Guys, we gotta clean up,” Kristoff calls over his shoulder as he lugs a bunch of skates back to storage.

True to her word, Gliss actually does stay to help after the final closing, without complaint, which is the most surprising part. Hiccup stays, too, volunteering to mop up the snack bar because he had nothing else to do. In the end, Jack offers to close up for the night so Kristoff can go home and get some rest.

Peri hangs back a little while to thank Jack before she left, saying that she really appreciates his help. He stands there a moment after, kind of taken aback because he doesn’t feel like he had helped her that much; Peri had turned out to be quite independent. Still, he tells her it’s no problem and watches as she joins Gliss and Spike in the parking lot.

“Why do you look so surprised?” Hiccup asks when he sees Jack’s expression.

“It’s nothing,” Jack assures him. “So, did you have fun tonight? Gliss says you’re pretty good on skates.”

Hiccup’s face breaks into a smile. “Yeah, actually, it was fun. Got my ass whooped, though. But it was fun.”

Jack lets out a laugh. “Time to head back to the dorms?”

Hiccup nods. “You know, we should do this again some time.”

“My God.” Jack feigns a gasp. “Are you asking me out so soon after your breakup? Do I look like a rebound to you?”

“Ha. Yes, Jack. Please date me.” Hiccup shoves Jack to the side as Jack bursts into laughter. “Seriously, though. I don’t get out much—”

“I can see that.”

If he’s being honest with himself, Jack really does enjoy Hiccup’s company. As soon as he had decided that he was going to befriend this mysterious Bus Stop Guy, everything else came pretty naturally. Hiccup challenges Jack’s snide comments, and Jack thinks that Hiccup’s sarcasm is hilarious. It works together.

On the bus, the two of them remain silent, both being a little fatigued, so when Jack gets up for his stop, he’s somewhat nonplussed to hear Hiccup say, “Thanks for the pick-me-up, by the way.”

Jack raises an eyebrow. Hiccup isn’t even looking at him; he’s staring out the window. “Don’t thank me. That was all Gliss.”

“I’m pretty sure you deserve some thanks for it.” Hiccup mutters before repositioning himself to sleep. “Now get off the bus and let me nap in peace.”

  
  



	2. The University

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack gets a tiny peek of what life at BU is like for Hiccup. // After leaving her sorority, Rapunzel uses her 10 seconds of courage to befriend an interesting girl.

“I thought you said you lived in the dorms,” Jack recalls, feeling slightly underwhelmed about Hiccup’s university apartment. The apartment is obviously much more impressive than a tiny room, but Jack had been looking forward to see how Hiccup fit into dorm life.

Hiccup hadn’t technically invited Jack over. He had just wanted some company, but he hadn’t meant in his room. Apparently, Jack has nothing better to do, so after pestering Hiccup for directions to his spot on campus, he decides to stop by right after Hiccup’s call.

“Well, the dorm curfew still kind of applies,” Hiccup explains. “They have people stationed at the front desk to check for your campus ID, or someone has to come vouch for you. In my opinion, it’s kind of weird, but I never questioned it.”

“Strict,” Jack notes. “But that’s just at night, right?” All Jack had needed to do was ask the receptionist to call Hiccup’s room to tell him he was there.

Hiccup nods in affirmation, refocusing his attention on his laptop. Normally, an interruption would have irked him, especially since he was doing schoolwork, but he doesn’t have any classes this day, and Hiccup is actually kind of glad that Jack had decided to come over.

“Is that for class?” Jack asks and continues with mock incredulity. “How rude. Shouldn’t you be entertaining your guest?”

“I would if I had one,” Hiccup quips. “Right now, all I have is this annoying pest in a blue sweatshirt.”

“Hey, man, this sweatshirt is my favorite.”  Jack raises an eyebrow. “It brings out my eyes.”

Hiccup laughs. “Seriously, I appreciate you being here. All my old friends seem like they want nothing to do with me.”

“Because of your breakup?” Jack plops down on the far side of Hiccup’s couch, leaning on the armrest. “What was her name again?”

“Astrid.” Hiccup sighs, finishing up another sentence before leaning back and stretching his arms out. “Even my own cousin can’t back me up. He says it’s just easier to take her side because I’m not there anyways.”

“Wow.” Jack knits his eyebrows. “Blunt honesty. But why do they need to take sides anyways?”

“My friend Reagan said that Astrid acts likes she’s okay, but it’s apparently a touchy subject.” Hiccup shrugs in defeat. “I’ve said everything I could to her, and she still dumps me. Now I’m supposed to accept that she feels bad about it.”

“Maybe she does.” Jack muses, earning a confused glance from Hiccup. “But it’s none of your business how she feels unless she wants you to know.”

“Thanks for the advice, mom,” Hiccup drawls.

“Hey, you called me.” Jack smirks. “You’re lucky I don’t charge for this. I can be pretty insightful when I want to be.”

“Oh, please, you’re not a hooker.” Hiccup raises his eyebrows. “You can leave whenever you want.”

“Don’t you have any other friends? You know, _here_?” Jack inquires, scanning around the small living room as if a friend of Hiccup was going to materialize out of thin air.

“Guy is the only person I talk to regularly,” Hiccup says. “He lives on this floor, but he’s out right now.”

“So I’m the backup friend?” Jack chuckles.

“It’s an upgrade from Nosy Dude at the bus stop,” Hiccup reminds him.

For a second, Jack doesn’t answer; he just laughs. Hiccup has a response to everything, and sometimes Jack can’t keep up. At least it’s amusing.

“What are you working on, anyways?” Jack asks, leaning forward to peek at Hiccup’s laptop.

Hiccup scooches the laptop away from Jack. “Just putting some ideas down for an assignment in one of my classes.”

“Due tomorrow?”

“Next week.”

Jack’s eyebrows shoot up. “You need to get out and do something.”

“I _am_ doing something,” Hiccup argues. “Technically, I didn’t want to hang out until later, anyways.”

“That’s not an excuse, genius.” Jack reaches out quickly and closes the laptop. “You can’t be a hermit in here when the world’s passing by outside.”

“When did you turn into a Hallmark card?”

“Come on, just get out of this room. I kind of want to look around your campus anyways, see what’s so great about this school.” Jack grins, pulling Hiccup to his feet.

“I’m sure your school’s not that much different,” Hiccup insists. “All universities look the same to me.”

 

Rapunzel’s morning had slipped away without her really noticing. A few hours with her sketchbook pass by like seconds. She doesn’t even need to be on campus; the only reason she’s there is because of habit—she had planned on meeting Anastasia and Drizella for coffee like they usually do before she remembered that they weren’t actually friends anymore. The drastic lack of routine left Rapunzel no choice but to find solace with her pencils and toned paper.

She can’t say that she doesn’t miss the sorority, even though she had made the decision to quit. It had provided her with a sense of belonging, and the upperclassmen had been so supportive when she first started. But after they had graduated, Rapunzel had begun to spend time with the other girls, and eventually, the brutal realization hit that hardly any of her ‘friends’ really liked her. Some of them had tried devising ways of getting Rapunzel kicked out, but unfortunately for them, she was proven innocent of all the accusations.

Not all the girls are malicious; most minded their own business, and there are a few that are nice to Rapunzel, but the stress she’d underwent the previous year was too much for her to handle, and for her final year, she doesn’t want to endure it.

So now she’s here, sitting alone on a bench watching the other students go about their mornings. The butterfly pattern she’s currently working on doesn’t come out quite the way she wants it, and Rapunzel sighs in frustration, hoping that if she takes her eyes away from the picture for a while, it’ll look better when she returns to it. As soon as she looks up, something catches her attention.

Okay, truthfully , it was some _one_.

He has chestnut brown hair and green eyes, with freckles all over his face. His name is Harold Haddock, engineering student. Rapunzel had first noticed him last year, and she’d been entranced ever since. She had mentioned him to Drizella the year before, but Drizella had just scoffed at Rapunzel and said he wasn’t anywhere near their level. Rapunzel still isn’t sure what Drizella had meant, but it couldn’t have stopped her from daydreaming. The fact that she sees him around so often on such a large campus is incredible luck. Rapunzel liked to believe it was fate.

Harold appears to just be walking, until he turns over his shoulder and calls out to someone. Another young man with brown hair and a blue hoodie runs up to him holding a cup of coffee in his hand, and the two seem to banter. Of course, from afar, Rapunzel has no clue what they’re saying, but she knows she had never seen the other boy before, and vaguely wonders who he is.

A voice to her left brings Rapunzel out of her daze. “Oi, blondie. You dropped this.”

Rapunzel blinks, suddenly aware of the girl who’d sat on the other end of the bench. This stranger has a wild tangle of red, curly hair that cascades over her shoulders. She has such a commanding presence that Rapunzel is surprised she hadn’t known she was sitting right there.

The redhead is holding out Rapunzel’s eraser patiently, but there’s a slight glimmer in her eyes that seems a bit daring. Rapunzel speculates whether or not the girl’s eyes are always like that.

“Oh. Thank you.” Rapunzel takes back her eraser with a small smile.

“Don’t worry about it.” The young woman chugs down the rest of the water in her water bottle and effortlessly tosses the plastic into a nearby recycling bin. “You fancy him, don’t you?” She gestures toward Harold, catching Rapunzel off guard. “That Harold Haddock bloke. I caught you staring at him.”

“What? No!” Rapunzel splutters, hastily closing up her sketchbook as if she has some secret sketches of him discreetly tucked away. Realizing how suspicious she is acting, Rapunzel attempts to cover it up. “I mean, I was just staring into space. I didn’t even notice I was looking right at him.”

“Uh-huh.” The redhead backs down, but she’s smiling coyly. “There’s no shame in it, lass, I was only teasing.”

Rapunzel is silent for a moment, but her curiosity gets the better of her. “Do you know him?”

“ _Of_ him,” the stranger clarifies. “Then again, I know of a lot of people. I’m Merida.”

“Rapunzel.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Are you...?” Rapunzel begins timidly, making note of Merida’s accent.

“Scottish,” Merida replies, a proud expression on her face.

“Ah.” Rapunzel smiles again. “You said knew of a lot of people. Have you heard anything about me?” Rapunzel had been part of a sorority, so there had to be some kind of talk about her.

“Sure.” Merida’s curt reply isn’t enough to sate Rapunzel’s persistent curiosity.

“Like what?”

Merida raises an eyebrow. Well, she’s asking for it, so might as well. “Rapunzel Corona, right? Ex-sorority girl of Epsilon Omega.”

Rapunzel frowns, obviously displeased. “Is that really all people say about me? It’s not like I’m the only girl to ever quit the sorority.”

“No, but you are the first in years,” Merida counters. “Look, it’s all talk, don’t worry about it.”

“How do you know all of this, anyways?” Rapunzel asks quizzically. Merida certainly doesn’t give off the impression of a gossiper.

“When you talk to a lot of people, word gets around,” Merida states simply. “Personally, I don’t care for some of the people in that group. ” Merida shoots Rapunzel a knowing glance. “If you ask me, you’re better off without them.”

“You’re the first to say so.” Rapunzel stares down at the sketchbook in her lap.

Merida stands up, checking her watch. “Time for me to get to class. See you around, Punzie.”

The nickname confuses Rapunzel for a second, but she decides to talk a bold chance. “Oh, uh, Merida?” She pauses when Merida turns to her, eyebrow raised. “Well, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out later? Get some lunch or something?” Her apprehensive tone sounded hopeful, at least.

Seconds later, Merida’s face breaks into a grin, and she lets out chuckle. “You really don’t have anymore friends, do you?” Her words were not derisive but genuinely amused. Rapunzel couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. “Rapunzel, you have guts.”

Merida asks for Rapunzel’s phone, and Rapunzel complies. After punching in her number and calling her own cell, Merida smiles and hands the phone back. “My class is only about an hour today. I know a place where we can go eat after that.”

“Okay.” Rapunzel returns Merida’s grin. “See you then.”

 

“God, Hiccup, you’re campus is confusing,” Jack complains. “How could you leave me like that at the coffee stand?”

“I didn’t even notice that you weren’t following me,” Hiccup defends himself. “I called you over, didn’t I?”

Jack slurps his coffee noisily, a look of distrust in his eyes. “Y’know, while we were walking through, I noticed something.”

Hiccup silently raises an eyebrow.

“The people here are kind of dull,” Jack admits, frowning. “You fit right in.”

“Do you ever say anything that isn’t an insult?” Hiccup groans.

“Nah, I don’t really mean that.” Jack searches for a way to reword his thoughts. “It’s just...most of them look really serious. “When a lot of people think of college life, it’s really energetic and there’s almost always something going on, right?”

“Right. You’re saying we don’t have that here?”

“I haven’t seen it.”

“Well, those who can afford colorful lives tend to live them elsewhere,” Hiccup says matter-of-factly.

“What the hell does that mean?” Jack knits his brow.

“It means that the Burgess University is unofficially split in two.” Hiccup begins rambling. “One side of the campus is geared towards the work part of the college experience while the other side is dedicated to recreation. Although, I guess they’re not really sides. It’s a false dichotomy. Most kids on campus don’t even fit into either category.”

“Could I get more of an analysis on this?”

“Not everyone at Burgess University is rich and snooty, contrary to popular belief.” Hiccup purses his lips. “There’s a myth that says only the wealthiest can afford to send their kids here.”

Jack had heard of such legend. Although, after only a brief look at the campus, he’s not entirely sure why it’s so expensive.

Hiccup continues. “It’s just really hard to make it here if you don’t have the financial support. A handful of us are here on scholarships, and they’re really smart on getting loans and stuff. We’re carried here mostly by academic achievement, so we continue to rely on it to get us through.”

“And another handful of you are carried here by money, so they only need that to get through,” Jack guesses.

“That and passing grades,” Hiccup finishes. “Barely passing. But, yeah. It’s maximum versus minimal effort. Everyone else falls into the middle. It’s not uncommon, but I think here it’s just a little more extreme.”

“So there’s another part of campus with wild parties?” Jack asks, mostly to himself.

Hiccup shakes his head. “It doesn’t work like that. Most of the younger rich kids are in frats or sororities. If you’re a rich kid in grad school, it’s more a silent sophistication of cocktail parties or some other classy socialization.”

“Sounds snobby.”

“You’re not far off.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re not one of them,” Jack confesses. “Don’t need you thinking any less of me just because I never had much money growing up. I didn’t really know how I was gonna make it through college, even, but I guess the worst is over.”

“Yeah, I’m beginning to think that I should’ve just stuck with four years,” Hiccup chuckles.

Jack yawns obnoxiously. “All this talk of school is getting real boring.”

“So what else do you wanna do?” Hiccup eyes his friend skeptically, seeing the smirk on Jack’s face once he had asked the question.

“I hear you guys have a rock climbing wall.”

 

Hiccup is glad when Jack grows tired of the tour. For one, Hiccup’s starving. And two, a campus tour of BU isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, unless you’re into all the history of all the old buildings, which, surprisingly, Jack _is_ , but Hiccup can’t tell him what he knows since he doesn’t know much to begin with. He would have made a terrible orientation leader.

Around noon, they leave the campus and head out to one of Jack’s favorite eating places. It’s a small cafe that’s a short walk from the university, but it’s not crowded. Usually, all the restaurants surrounding BU are packed around lunchtime.

“It’s great because hardly anyone knows about this place,” Jack brags. “Or they know, but they prefer to eat elsewhere. It’s a bit of a miracle that they don’t have a much of a lunch rush.”

Jack orders a sandwich and a Coke while Hiccup gets an iced tea and some mac and cheese. Somehow, Jack convinces Hiccup to also get a side salad.

“Hey, Hiccup,” Jack says after they get their meals and sit down. “You should think about working at the ice rink. I mean, you’ve met Kristoff and Gliss already. I think you’ll have a lot of fun.”

“I think you have enough friends employed at the rink, Jack,” Hiccup responds.

“Eh. I actually don’t see them that much outside of work.” Jack shrugs, scarfing down his sandwich. “Plus, we always could use more help around Christmastime.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Hiccup pokes his salad with a fork. “I don’t even like salad.”

“You have to have more than just mac and cheese,” Jack says with a mouthful of food. “You haven’t eaten since I came in this morning. Plus, there’s chicken in it, too.” He swallows and chases down his food with gulp of soda. After he puts the drink down, Hiccup sees Jack go completely slack-jawed, looking at something over Hiccup’s shoulder. “Whoa,” he mutters.

Hiccup turns around to follow his gaze and sees two young women standing in front of the register. One of them has an untamed mass of fiery red hair sticking out in every direction, and the color is a sharp contrast with her blue eyes. Perhaps she was taking the “undone” look a bit too far, but the mess of curls seems to suit her just fine.

“Oh, wow, you’re right,” Hiccup agrees. “The redhead has amazing hair.”

“Not her!” Jack chides, gesturing at the blonde girl standing next to the redhead. “ _Her_.”

Hiccup takes a look at the other girl. She’s very attractive, with long golden hair and an inquisitive expression. Her movements are lithe, and her smile is captivating. She speaks to her friend with obvious, yet controlled, excitement. For a split second, she makes eye contact with Hiccup, and she freezes. Hiccup looks away obliviously.

“Yeah, she’s pretty,” Hiccup says casually, finally taking a bite of his salad.

“Are you kidding?” Jack lowers his voice so the women can’t hear him. “She’s looks like she could be in a movie.”

Hiccup gives Jack a bewildered look.

Meanwhile, Rapunzel tugs on Merida’s sleeve and whispers sharply in her ear. “Did you know he was going to be here?” she demands.

Merida pulls back in surprise, and whirls her head to see Harold sitting near the corner of the cafe with a friend. She looks back at Rapunzel. “Sweetheart, I’m not psychic. And I am certainly not a stalker.” But she does have an idea.

After they order, Merida takes Rapunzel by the arm and steers her towards Harold. Despite Rapunzel’s momentary look of terror, Merida marches right up to him.

“Hello,” she says politely, looking between him and his friend. “I know this is sudden, but do you mind if we join you?”

She’s already pulling up a couple of chairs when Harold’s friend says something like, “Sure, go ahead,” but Harold doesn’t say anything. He just looks at them cautiously as his friend introduces himself as Jack.

The circular table is big enough to seat four, so Merida sits on Harold’s left, across from Rapunzel, while Harold is across from Jack.

“So, I’m Merida. Merida Dunbroch. And before you ask, I’m from Scotland.” Merida is completely comfortable with this situation, unlike Rapunzel.

“Rapunzel Corona,” she says shyly, picking at her muffin.

Jack tilts his head. “Like the lettuce?”

“Uh, no.” Rapunzel raises her eyebrows at him. “I’m named after the flower.”

This new bit of information only serves to confuse him even more. “There’s a flower?”

“Rampion bellflowers,” Harold says, speaking without really looking up from his food. Normally, Merida would have taken it as a sign of arrogance, but Harold’s downcast eyes say differently. “The scientific name is _campanula rapunculus_. So, you know, _rapunculus_ , Rapunzel.”

The other three stare at him, evidently impressed.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Rapunzel says with admiration.

“How do you even know that?” Merida blurts out, a little more rudely than she intends.

One of the employees comes by their table and sets down a cup and saucer in front of Merida. She thanks them, taking a whiff of the strong aroma.

“What drink is that?” Rapunzel asks.

“It’s an espresso. Hazelnut.” Merida takes a slow sip.

“Hot coffee?” Harold frowns. “It’s half past noon.”

“Your point, string bean?” Merida takes another sip. “Besides, there’s never a bad time for coffee.”

Harold raises his eyebrows at her in indignation. “The name’s Hiccup.”

Merida and Rapunzel exchange a subtle glance. “Your parents named you...Hiccup?”

“It’s a nickname,” Harold says simply.

“His real name’s Harold,” Jack pipes in. “Harold Haddock.”

Jack and Harold—Hiccup, unfortunately, lose out on the irony.

“Where’d you two find out about this place, by the way?” Merida asks the two of them. “I’ve never seen you around here before.”

Jack raises an eyebrow. “Are you a regular?”

“I usually come at night.”

“Oh, that explains it.” Jack nods. “I have work at in the afternoon and night, so I only come here during lunch or breakfast.”

“Shouldn’t we have still run into each other before now?”

“Beats me.”

Jack and Merida continue their conversation, leaving a bit of an awkward silence as Hiccup and Rapunzel watch them interact. Hiccup had been mostly quiet anyways, since Merida’s personality clearly overwhelms him. Her upfront attitude reminds him of Astrid.

In order to remedy the awkwardness, Hiccup decides to strike up a conversation with Rapunzel.

“So you guys are in college?” he asks.

Rapunzel looks at him as though she hadn’t expected him to speak, but she nods in response to his question. “Burgess University. We’re both seniors.”

“Huh.” Hiccup nods. “I go to Burg, too, though I guess I haven’t seen you around. What’s your major?”

“English.” Rapunzel’s a little unsure how to follow up. She already knows his major.

“Well, I’ll bet you know the school better than I do,” Hiccup remarks. “Seeing as you’ve been here for four years. I started last year for grad school.”

Rapunzel looks away with a wry smile, an expression that looks out of place on her delicate features. “I used to know people. Not so much anymore.”

Hiccup is familiar with the feeling. “Well, don’t feel bad. Some things just aren’t meant to last, you know? You’ll find something better.” It’s something he had had to keep telling himself after the break up. Hearing it is the first half; believing it is the second.

He doesn’t realize how much of an effect his words have on Rapunzel, who brightens up at his encouragement. She smiles gratefully, and Hiccup returns the gesture. Rapunzel has to admit to herself that she’s a little proud now that they’ve made some sort of emotional connection, even though she hadn’t intended to play to his sympathies.

Merida interrupts their little moment. “If you two ladies are done, Jack says there’s some sort of event going down at the Burgess Ice Rink in a few days to kick off the Christmas season.”

Hiccup snorts lightly. “Is inviting people to the ice rink the only way you know how to make friends?”

“Yup,” Jack replies shamelessly.

“To each his own,” Hiccup jokes. “But it’s all you ever talk about.”

“Well, it sounds like a fantastic idea.” Merida glowers at Hiccup like she’s challenging him. “We could use a little fun every now and then, wouldn’t you say?”

Hiccup gives Merida a brief, indignant look, but he immediately backs down.

“I’m pretty sure I don’t have any plans coming up,” Rapunzel says.

Jack grins at her. “Perfect, then. I’ve got Merida’s number, so I’ll send her the details.”

“Oh, well, you can have my number, too.” Rapunzel takes her cell out of her purse. “Here, what’s yours?”

Hiccup thinks that Jack looks more pleased about getting Rapunzel’s number than he should be, which Hiccup finds sort of hilarious.

 

The conversation carries on for a while longer after they all exchange contact information. Hiccup mostly watches because he’s wary of saying something that will set Merida off on him. He has no clue what he’d done to get on her bad side, but Hiccup isn’t the type to pick a fight. At least Rapunzel was being nice to him, although she was definitely the more approachable of the two.

He and Jack stayed with the girls until it was time for Jack to head to work. Once they were gone, Merida leans back in her chair and blows a curl out from her face.

“Well, they seem nice.” She looks at Rapunzel. “So, Punzie, was Haddock everything you dreamed of and more?”

Seeing Rapunzel’s blush causes Merida to let out a hearty laugh, and Rapunzel tries to shush her.

“I thought you would’ve at least talked to him before now,” Merida continues. “You were so shy.”

“I see him around,” Rapunzel mumbles. “But it’s not like I follow him or anything,” she quickly adds.

“Why have you never approached him?”

“Well, Drizella said that we don’t associate with people like him.” Rapunzel says the words like she still doesn’t believe them.

“The Tremaine sister?”

Rapunzel nods.

Merida muses to herself. “Well, you’re not one of them anymore, so to hell with that.” Her expression turns serious. “You should probably know something, though.”

Rapunzel raises her eyebrows. “What is it?”

Merida thinks of how to word her thoughts, tapping her nails against her empty coffee cup. “Haddock was dumped by his girlfriend last week.”

“Oh.” The stunned look on Rapunzel’s face was all Merida needed for confirmation.

“You didn’t know he was in a relationship.”

“I didn’t,” Rapunzel echoes, a little stupefied. She puts her face in her hands. “Oh, this is so embarrassing,” she groans.

“From what I hear, it was long distance, so I don’t blame you for not known.” Merida purses her lips. “I know one of the students who lives on Haddock’s floor in the university apartment. That’s the story I he told me. He’s taking it rough, apparently.”

“For someone who knows what he’s going through,” Rapunzel begins, “you were a little…”

“Bitchy?”

“Unsympathetic.”

“I’m not very nurturing, to be honest. Plus, I wanted him to focus on you.” Merida shrugs, figuring that she’s explained herself the best she can. “It worked for a while, right?”

Rapunzel doesn’t understand Merida’s methods, but it isn’t her place to be criticizing, since a small part of her is thankful for Merida’s help. She tries to change the subject. “So, what do you think we’ll be doing at the ice rink?”

Merida shrugs. “You mean, besides ice skating?” Jack didn’t say much other than the Christmas theme. “They’ll probably just decorate the place and make sweets shaped like snowmen. I’ll bet it’s mostly geared towards children, anyways.”

“It doesn’t sound like you actually want to go.” Rapunzel raises her eyebrows. She doesn’t want to go to the ice rink alone, especially since she had never been ice skating before.

“Of course I want to go,” Merida insists, chuckling. “There’s nothing wrong with decorations and sweets, is there?”

Rapunzel grins in relief. “Do you have any plans for Christmas?”

“I don’t know, Punzie.” Merida sighs. “December just started. I don’t usually spend Christmas with people from school, either.” Merida knows people, but she isn’t exactly personal with most of them. Aside from the usual conversation after class, she doesn’t go out of her way to build friendships.

“What about your family?” Rapunzel presses on.

Merida pauses for a long time, biting her lip. Every Christmas the past three years have been the same. She would fly home to her parents and brothers, join them in their holiday merriment, and then her parents would sit her down and talk about how Merida should think about marriage. A merger is good for the company, her mother will explain, each time trying a different approach. The discussion about marriage have been going on since she was a teenager, albeit they were year-round before she moved away.

When she had first applied to Burg, Merida had hoped the distance would dissuade her parents from the notion. Her summers in Scotland were hardly different from winter holidays; instead of talking to her about it, however, her parents would try to set her up. They aren’t very discreet about it, either. Macintosh, Macguffin, Dingwall. Merida was beginning to lose track. At least, in the end, she’d become good friends with all of her potential suitors. Turns out they aren’t too keen on merger marriages, either.

Her parents mean well, but Merida had had enough of it. She had decided she wasn’t going home to Scotland this year, but she just needs a good excuse for it.

“I won’t be seeing them this holiday,” Merida finally admits.

Rapunzel looks sad for a moment until a thought occurs to her. “You can probably spend Christmas with me and my parents, if you want.”

Merida is taken aback. “You can’t be serious, Punzie. We just met!”

The blonde’s optimism does not subside. “Let’s just say I have a good feeling about it. Plus, we’re friends now! I’ll talk to my parents. I’m sure they won’t mind. In the meantime, you can come by my apartment today.”

“You’re pretty bold for someone who could barely make eye contact with Haddock,” Merida teases.

Rapunzel waves it off. “That’s different.” She stands up, “Come on, let’s go!”

Merida chuckles and follows Rapunzel out the door.

 

Rapunzel’s apartment is off-campus, but it’s just a bus ride from the school. The room itself is quaint and artsy. There are paintings hung here and there, but the first thing Merida notices is a rather large book case filled with novels, almost extending to the ceiling.

“You like to read, huh?” Merida says, walking up to the shelves and pulling out a book.

Rapunzel nods enthusiastically. “Painting, too.”

Merida takes another look at the pieces on the walls, replacing the novel in the book case. “Did you do those?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Impressive.”

Rapunzel laughs. “Thank you.” She gestures around. “Welcome to my apartment.”

“Most students usually live in the suites on campus,” Merida mentions. That’s where she lives, anyway.

“When I left the sorority last year and moved out of the house, I decided to live off-campus,” Rapunzel explains. “I didn’t want a huge place. My parents offered to sign the lease to an apartment so they could pay for rent, so I’m just an occupant. The landlord here was very nice about it.”

“How lucky.” Merida notices a terrarium by the living room. “You have a pet?”

“A chameleon.” Rapunzel brings Merida over to the glass case, and they peer into it. “I got him in the beginning of the school year. His name’s Pascal.”

The spotted reptile looked back at them warily. Merida cracks a smile. “Interesting. Didn’t peg you for the chameleon type. I have a Clydesdale back in Scotland named Angus.”

Rapunzel beams. “I love horses! Oh, you know what—” Rapunzel reaches into her purse. “—I’m going to go call my mom right now and ask about Christmas. Excuse me a moment.”

“Take your time,” Merida responds idly. She’s busy looking around when Rapunzel goes into her room to make the call.

The decoration is vintage and a bit too cutesy for Merida’s liking, but it doesn’t look bad. It could be worse. Rapunzel could have been one of those people who collects porcelain dolls with the creepy eyes that follow you when you walk by them.

As far as apartments go, Merida feels like Rapunzel’s is actually quite spacious. Perhaps it’s small compared to what she’s used to, but others would consider this more than big enough for one person.

“Good news!” Rapunzel comes out of her room after a few minutes, absolutely ecstatic. “My parents said yes.”

Merida raises an eyebrow, but she smiles, too. “How about that? Guess I’m spending Christmas with the Coronas.”

Rapunzel giggles. “I actually think we’re going to a mountain resort this year.”

“Even better.” Merida flops her whole body down on the sofa, her hair sprawling out. “Say, Punzie, you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Not at all.” Rapunzel sat down near Merida’s head, pushing some of the curls aside.

“Why’d you leave Epsilon Omega in the first place?” Merida rearranges herself so she’s sitting up and facing Rapunzel. “Sure, I said there’s a few people in the sorority that I didn’t like, but I know a lot of girls who are pretty happy there. I also know that you were one of them.  I still don’t understand the sorority stuff, if I’m being honest.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ve heard all about it by now.” Rapunzel doesn’t say it to be defensive. She just figures that some of her former sorority sisters have gotten a kick out of her leaving, and they couldn’t wait to tell.

“Maybe, but I want to hear it from you.” Merida reaches out and pushes Rapunzel’s shoulder lightly. “Gossip isn’t the most reliable source.”

Rapunzel waits a little before replying. “My first year, there were a group of girls that convinced me to join. They said I’d fit right in, so of course, I went to check them out.” She smiles wistfully. “Up until last year, I was having a fantastic time, but by then, the girls who inspired me to join had already graduated. I didn’t realize it, but they were protecting me from interacting with certain people because it wasn’t until they left that I was able to become closer with Ana and Drizella.”

“How’d they even get in the sorority?” Merida wonders. The Tremaine sisters had a rather rotten reputation.

“Family legacy or something?” Rapunzel can’t remember. “There were a whole bunch of girl trying to make it to the top of the sorority. They’re pretty cutthroat.”

“Harsh, coming from you.” Merida laughs. “So did they drive you out?”

Rapunzel sighs. “They convinced a lot of the other girls to turn on me. I really only was closer with the upperclassmen, so they figured I was a social climber.”

“That’s rich, knowing most of the girls in the sorority now,” Merida says.

Rapunzel pouts thoughtfully. “How do you know so much about people anyways?”

“I’ve always tried to know as much as I can.” Merida elaborates, “My parents run a company back in Scotland. They’re business people, and they like making connections and contracts and all that wonderful stuff. I remember my mother saying something like, ‘It’s good to know what’s happening around you.’ People, trends, anything could be relevant. I guess that’s where I got it from. The more people you talk to, the more you hear.”

“So it’s not just people?”

“Nope.”

“I suppose that means you’re following in your parents footsteps, then?” Rapunzel asks thoughtfully.

Merida nods. “Or well, I’m trying my best. I didn’t want to at first.” She laughs. “Okay, that’s an understatement. That was the last thing I wanted to do when I was sixteen was turn out the way my parents did.”

“Really?” Rapunzel’s eyes widened in surprise.

“But, somewhere along the line, my mindset changed.” Merida purses her lips. “I showed promise, and it actually wasn’t so bad. I thought, ‘Why not?’ Whether I decide to follow my mum and dad or not is still my decision.”

They were silent for a moment. Then, Merida’s stomach lets out a hideous growl.

Rapunzel bursts into laughter. “How about I make us something to eat? It’s not dinner time yet, but we can maybe have some chicken and open a bottle of red wine.”

Merida lets out a low whistle. “You know how to treat a guest. I don’t suppose you have anything stronger?” She hears Rapunzel’s chuckling behind her in the kitchen. Merida calls over her shoulder, “Punzie, I could get used to this friendship.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epsilon Omega actually doesn't have a meaning, in case any one was wondering. They're just random Greek letters. Also, I'm not really versed on the rules and regulations of college life, so I apologize for any inaccuracies, and I hope it doesn't take away from the story.


	3. The Deluxe Cabin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The four kick off the Christmas season with a series of unusual events.

The entire block is decked out in Christmas decor, despite it only being the first week of December. Snowflakes and stockings and blinking lights had been hung on lamp posts, with rows of glittering wreaths strung like banners across the street.

“You think the rest of the city knows that it’s Christmas?” Merida jokes as they step out of the taxi.

Rapunzel laughs. “I think it’s pretty.”

Hiccup pushes through the doors to the rink, letting the girls pass him before closing the door behind him. It isn’t drastically warmer inside the facility, but it is a substantial improvement, and the interior is more festive than the neighborhood outside. There’s even a Christmas tree in the front lobby decorated with numerous snowsport-themed ornaments.

“Welcome to the rink,” a voice to their left called out. They turned to see a young man at the rental counter gesture at the skates behind him. “It’s two-for-one today only, if you’re interested. If you have any questions, my name’s Sloane, and I’d be happy to help.”

“Sounds good,” Rapunzel replies, grinning.

“Here,” Merida says to Rapunzel. “I’ve got this one.” She glances at Hiccup. “Sorry, Haddock. Better luck next time.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Hiccup shakes his head and chuckles.

They grab their skates and walk over to the ice, where a mass of people—mostly families—are gliding around in a clockwise direction near the edge of rink.

“Have you guys seen Jack anywhere?” Rapunzel asks, scanning the crowded area around them.

Hiccup shrugs. “With this many people, he’s probably working right now. We’ll find him eventually.” He and Merida are already pulling on their skates.

Rapunzel lifts her skates up tentatively. “Um.”

“Something wrong, Punzie?” Merida looks up at her after she’s finished tying her laces.

“I’ve never actually been ice skating before.” Rapunzel smiles sheepishly.

Merida raises her eyebrows. “That’s all right. I’ll help you put those on.”

Rapunzel sits down and slips her feet in the skates. It doesn’t take longer than a minute or two before Merida has Rapunzel standing up, albeit she’s a tad unsteady.

“Good,” Merida says. “Now Haddock can teach you.” She walks away from Rapunzel and steps towards the nearest opening to the ice. “I’d like to go ahead first, if you don’t mind.”

Hiccup’s brow furrows. “Hold on a second—”

“Too late! I’m already gone!” Merida slides onto the ice and quickly abandons them at the sidelines.

Hiccup sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Well, there she goes,” he says, turning to Rapunzel. “I’m not the best teacher, but I guess the most logical way to start is to get you on the ice, right?” He smiles, holding a hand out to her.

Rapunzel nods and takes his hand, trying not to let her excitement show too much.

 

Skating wasn’t as difficult as she had imagined it was going to be. Rapunzel had braced herself for public humiliation in case she fell headfirst into the ice, but the scenario doesn’t happen. She can tell that Hiccup’s having some difficulty explaining to her how it works, using her momentum and everything, and though she doesn’t quite get it, it makes her feel good that he’s trying hard for her sake. He skates alongside her for a while at a steady pace, grabbing her forearm to keep her from falling over.

“This is kind of fun,” she ventures, trying to start a conversation without fumbling all over herself.

“You’re getting the hang of it,” Hiccup assures her, and Rapunzel smiles to herself.

Just then, Merida skates up to them on Rapunzel’s other side, looking rather chipper. “You’re doing good, Punzie,” she comments. “I see the lesson’s going well.”

Hiccup raises an eyebrow “If you can call it that.”

“No, Hiccup, you’re actually really helping,” Rapunzel tells him, though she stumbles a bit and has to cling to his shoulder. She laughs nervously as Hiccup helps her straighten up. “Thanks.”

Merida nudges Rapunzel lightly and chuckles. They make one more round before exiting the rink to rest. As soon as they sit down, a young boy with brown hair bounces up to them, eyeing Merida with a mixture of awe and nervousness. She stares back at him with a raised brow. “Can I help you?”

“You have really cool hair,” the kid says, pointing at Merida’s red locks.

Merida’s taken aback, but she gives the kid a small smile. “Uh, thank you, lad.”

Satisfied with this response, the kid grins and runs away excitedly, yelling, “Jack, she said thanks!”

The three look up to see the kid run up to Jack, who is wearing his employee’s uniform. He squats down and ruffles the kid’s hair. “See Jamie? Told ya she wouldn’t bite.” He stands up as the child leaves to join his mother.

“Look who it is,” Hiccup says as Jack comes up to greet them all.

“I still can’t believe you all made it,” Jack says. “I saw Merida’s hair while you guys were skating, but I wasn’t completely sure. It’s like a traffic cone.”

The four of them laugh when a tall blonde man, a St. Bernard, and a girl with whitish hair walk towards them. “This is Kristoff and Sven,” Jack introduces them. “Hiccup’s met Kristoff already. Sven’s the dog. And this girl’s Peri.” Kristoff and Peri and both wearing the employee’s shirt. Jack gestures to his friends. “This is Rapunzel, Merida, and Hiccup.”

“Oh, how cute!” Rapunzel gushes, bending down to pet Sven. Sven was wearing reindeer antlers and a bell collar with large tag that said, “Welcome to Burgess Ice Rink!”

“Forever the crowd favorite,” Kristoff chuckles. “Peri’s helping me take Sven around so he’s busy with something before going on the ice later.”

“You’re taking him out on the rink?” Merida questions. “Is that allowed?”

Kristoff nods. “For him, it is. He’s well-trained, never gets into any trouble.” He pulls an orange-colored treat out of his pocket and tosses it in the air. Sven catches it in his mouth, munching happily.

Hiccup blinks. “Was that a carrot?”

Jack and Peri laugh like it’s some sort of inside joke.

 

After Kristoff and Peri leave with Sven, Jack takes the three of them back outside, where the snowfall had increased quite a bit. Near the rink’s entrance, a bunch of children are throwing snowballs around, including the kid from earlier who had complimented Merida’s hair. He sees Jack and tries to get him to play, but Jack says he’s spending time with his friends.

“Do you know him?” Rapunzel asks curiously.

“His family lives in my neighborhood,” Jack says. “I babysit him and his sister every now and then.” He points down the street. “You see the recreation center? I was planning on taking you guys there during my break. There’s a toy drive going on, so they set up this little carnival kind of thing inside Thaddeus Hall.”

Suddenly, a snowball hits Hiccup in the side of his neck, and he lets out a startled yelp. The culprits yell out a collective “Sorry!” before resuming their snowball fight. Jack, Merida, and Rapunzel try to stifle their laughter as Hiccup brushes the snow off of his jacket.

“You know, that actually looks like fun,” Merida admits, scooping up some snow in her gloved hands.

“I would join you with that,” Jack says, “but let’s face it, I’d probably pulverize you guys. Plus, I have to get back to work.”

Merida winds her arm back and throws the snowball as Jack turns to go back inside, nailing him in the back of his head. Jack freezes and slowly turns around.

“You scared?” She taunts.

Jack grins deviously. “Oh, it’s _on_.”

The scuffle between Merida and Jack escalates into a full on war between the four of them. Hiccup and Rapunzel spend the beginning trying to dodge the icy projectiles, but Merida nails Hiccup in the face, so he attempts to return the favor—only he misses Merida completely, and the snowball smashes into Rapunzel. Soon, it isn’t even a snowball fight anymore; Merida and Rapunzel are battling to pour snow over the other’s head, and Jack and Hiccup are trying to stuff each other’s jackets with ice. The four of them collapse in a heap of laughter when a loud bark comes from the entrance.

“Jack!” Kristoff shouts. “What the hell are you doing? Get back to work!”

“It was a declaration of war, Kris!” Jack shouts back.

“Don’t make me put you on skate-sharpening duty!” Kristoff retorts. Sven barks again for emphasis.

Jack, Merida, Hiccup, and Rapunzel all get up, dusting themselves off. “Killjoy!” Jack yells jokingly, hurling a snowball towards Kristoff. It would have hit him, but Kristoff raises an arm and swats it away before retreating inside. Jack sighs. “Well, you heard him. Duty calls.” Jack gives a mock salute before running in after Kristoff.

Rapunzel tucks her hair behind her ears. “I think I’m gonna head in and get some hot chocolate. Do you guys want anything?” They both shake their heads no, and Rapunzel leaves to retrieve her beverage.

Hiccup and Merida stand in silence, unsure of what to do know that their friends have left them.

Merida attempts to make small talk. “So how long have you and Jack known each other?”

“A little over a week,” Hiccup replies.

“Really?” Merida pauses. “I thought you two had know each other for a while now.”

Hiccup thinks for a moment. “It feels like it’s been a while; we hung out a lot this week. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t actually have anyone else outside the ice rink employees to hang out with. Besides us.”

“You don’t suppose there’s a reason for that?”

Hiccup shoots Merida a look. “Jack’s a decent guy,” Hiccup informs her, feeling the need to defend him.

“And you?” Merida inquires. “No one to hang around with?”

“I don’t actually have that many friends, either.”

“Guess we’re all in the same boat.”

“You and Rapunzel?” Hiccup is obviously confused. 

“Well, I shouldn’t speak for Punzie.” Merida crosses her arms. “Let’s just say that I know people, but I try to keep things from getting too personal.”

“Like professional relationships?” Hiccup tilts his head.

“Something like that.” Merida wants to change the subject. “Speaking of relationships, Haddock, I hear you got dumped.”

“How do you know that?” But Hiccup kind of knows. He hadn’t made it out to be a secret when he’d told Guy about it.

Merida’s nonchalant. “I just wanted to know if it was true. I also heard it was long-distance. Can’t say I blame the lass.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to help you get over her.” Merida pats Hiccup’s shoulder awkwardly.

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” He isn’t ready for whatever plans Merida might have.

The redhead trudges back to the ice rink entrance, noting the drop in temperature. “Come on, it’s bloody freezing out here.”

 

When they walk in, Rapunzel finds them almost immediately.

“I was just about to go get you guys!” Rapunzel almost squeals as she tugs them towards the ice rink.

The first thing that they notice is that everyone was crowded around the rink, peering in through the glass, so Merida, Hiccup and Rapunzel find a view by standing on the bleachers. In the middle of the rink, Sven is sliding around, trying to catch the carrot chunks that Kristoff and Jack are throwing into the air. Sven does really well, hardly missing a single piece as his audience applauds. Many of them are recording with their cell phones. This little show goes on for a few minutes before Jack and Kristoff play keep-away from Sven, which leads Sven to run headfirst into Kristoff, knocking him onto the floor while the onlookers laugh.

Once the gimmick ends, so does the first shift, and the guests are informed that the facility will be closing for two hours. Kristoff takes Sven to the side to let him rest as the last of the guests leave.

“It never occurred to me that dogs could run on ice,” Hiccup says to Kristoff.

“You’ve never seen it before?” Kristoff chuckles proudly. “Well, we’ve been practicing.” He gives Sven one last treat. “I have to go reset the rink, and everyone else has to get back to work, but you guys can stay as long as you watch Sven for me.”

This, of course, delights Rapunzel, and she immediately goes to croon over Sven. Jack follows her, and he gives Sven commands so he can demonstrate the dog’s talent. Rapunzel laughs, impressed.

“I think Jack’s really starting to like her,” Hiccup says to himself, realizing a little too late that he’s spoken aloud.

Merida doesn’t look perturbed in the least. “Yup. Too bad.”

“What?”

She doesn’t look at him. “You know, I kind of want to pet that dog, too.”

 

As promised, Jack walks Hiccup, Merida, and Rapunzel to the recreation center once Kristoff lets him off shift. They walk into Thaddeus Hall, greeted by a bustle of activities taking place throughout the multipurpose building. The layout is similar to a school carnival, with game booths and little kiosks arranged in an orderly fashion. A large Christmas tree is set up so that it’s the first thing they see when they walk in, and a sign next to it reads **TOY DRIVE DONATIONS**. Piles of toys are gathered underneath and around the tree, and the area is contained by a series of picket fences.

People in the booths attempt to lure them in, get them to check out the commodities and spend a few dollars on a simple game, but Jack weaves through the booths and people, leading the other three through the chaos.

“All this for a toy drive?” Hiccup asks, raising his voice above the noise.

“Yeah.” Jack brings them to a stop in front of a short stage. “If you bring a donation, they give you free tickets that you can use to play the games.”

The other three realize that the stage is a “take a photo with Santa” station. A old man donned in red and sitting in an ornate chair with a crying baby on his lap completes the scene.

“Hey, Mr. Claus,” Jack calls out, noticing that the line is blocked off to new customers. “Taking your break soon?”

The baby’s mother takes her away from the Santa impersonator. His expression brightens up when he sees Jack, and he replies in a booming voice, “Jack! What a nice surprise.” He walks off the stage and the group follows him off to the side, away from the public view.

“Hey, North.” Jack grins. “How are the kids treating you this time?”

“Same as always, I suppose,” North responds, taking off the Santa hat and stroking his long beard. He notices the people standing behind Jack. “Who might you all be?”

Jack introduces his friends, who are a little shocked at North’s presence.

“The beard is _real_ ,” Hiccup whispers in amazement.

Rapunzel giggles and Merida shoves Hiccup lightly.

“It’s nice to meet you,” North says. He faces Jack, a look of seriousness on his face. “Listen, Jack. There’s a slight problem with the toy drive.”

“What do you mean?” Jack’s eyebrows furrow.

“It’s about Manny DeLuna’s donations,” North explains. Another one of North’s friends. DeLuna always gives massive donations to North’s toy drive in particular, since they both go way back. “He’s left them at his vacation estate in the mountains, which is about an hour drive from here, but now he’s in Europe. I completely forgot to pick them up, and I need to get all these toys delivered to the charity this weekend.”

“Why didn’t DeLuna just have them delivered here?”

“There was a mixup.” North confesses. “I say ‘Don’t worry, I’ll pick them up, I have duplicate keys anyway,’ so he leaves all the boxes in the garage. Now, I can't pick them up, so it must be you.”

“You have keys to DeLuna’s estate?” Jack narrows his eyes at North skeptically. “Did he give them to you?”

North’s impatience begins to show. “Yes, yes! We are good friends.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls a set of keys out. “Here. Go, take Phil’s cargo van. The key for that is there, too. I’ll let Phil know.”

“Why do you have the keys to everyone else’s stuff?”

“Because I do.” North turns him around and pushes him away. “Hurry, we need those toys.”

Jack stumbles back towards his friends. They observe his face, confused as to what just happened. He looks up at them, trying to cover up how perplexed he is.

“Road trip, anyone?” He flashes the keys at them.

 

“What exactly is this for, again?” Merida asks as she and Hiccup slide into the backseat that Phil had installed into his cargo van.

“North needs me to run an errand, and when he’s like this, I don’t really have a choice,” Jack says, starting up the car. The last time Jack had refused to do something upon North’s insistence, the old man moped about it for days. Jack opts not to question it anymore. “I don’t want to do this alone, so I’m taking you guys with me.”

“Getting groceries is an errand,” Hiccup corrects him. “We’re going to the mountains. The old guy’s sending you out to be his delivery boy.”

Rapunzel, who had been buckled into the passenger seat, frowns a bit. “Is it really so urgent that he’s making you drive all the way out there? It doesn’t look like the weather’s going to be very forgiving.” She looks back out the window. It’s true that the weather isn’t as gentle as it had been that morning.

“I’ve been through worse,” Jack reassures her. “An hour to get there, we’ll pack up the toys, and an hour to get back. Shouldn’t be too bad.”

“How old is this car?” Merida scrunches up her nose. “The seats smell funny.”

Rapunzel’s expression turns guilty, like she had been thinking the same thing.

Hiccup rolls his eyes at Merida. “Not up to par with the royal standards?” The seats are just fine to him.

Merida hits his shoulder.

Jack laughs. “Don’t worry, your highnesses, we’ll be there and back before dinner.”

 

Seeing the estate almost makes the drive there worth it. Almost.

Hiccup decides right away that he wants to nap throughout the car ride, which is nearly impossible when Merida’s chatting away with Rapunzel next to him. He tries asking them if they can quiet down, but Merida takes the request personally and promptly ignores him. Rapunzel attempts to add Hiccup into the conversation, but Hiccup, already grumpy because of Merida’s attitude, leaves her with curt responses. Merida argues that Hiccup should at least try making an effort to talk with them. Hiccup replies inaudibly, mostly likely something sarcastic, and sets Merida off. She attempts to wrestle him down, demanding he repeat what he had said and “take the consequences like a man.” Nothing Jack or Rapunzel say is getting through to them.

Finally, both Hiccup and Merida fall asleep, their bodies as far away from each other as possible while they’re confined in the vehicle.

“God, I thought they’d never shut up,” Jack groans, checking his rearview mirror and sighing in relief.

Rapunzel laughs. “Maybe on the way back, we shouldn’t have them sit next to each other.”

Jack sighs, exasperated, looking over at her briefly. “You’re probably right.”

When he pulls up the driveway to DeLuna’s property, Jack gapes. The place is three stories high, built with wood so it had a kind of cabin theme, though calling it a cabin is a gross understatement. It’s huge. This cabin probably ate all the other ones. The view around it is also beautiful—a large estate surrounded by the mountain scenery topped with a layer of white snow.

“This is a vacation home?” Merida breathes. “You have friends in high places, Jack.” It was easily the size of her actual home.

Jack purses his lips. “Actually, North does. Not me.”

“Are you two related?” Rapunzel asks. There’s a striking resemblance between Jack and North, but she can’t tell for sure.

“We might as well be,” Jack replies.

“Friend of the family?” Merida guesses.

Jack shakes his head. “He _is_ family.”

Merida side-eyes him. “You just said you weren’t related.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s not family.” Jack says this as though it explains everything.

Frustrated, Merida turns to Hiccup. “Is he always this cryptic?”

“Sometimes worse,” Hiccup answers, half-listening. He’s still staring at the estate.

They have to open the garage from the inside, and they step over the threshold with high anticipation. The interior looks completely new, with expensive furniture and embellishments. Faux fur accents keep with the woodsy theme, but the whole place is elegant and sophisticated.

Only Rapunzel doesn’t appear to be overly surprised by the estate. “This place is so adorable!” she exclaims, looking around.

“Over one million words in the English language,” Hiccup begins incredulously, “and you choose _adorable_?”

Rapunzel turns to him. “My family has a house like this one in Italy,” she tells him, as if it’s not an out-of-place statement.

They all look at her. Jack shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair. “I forget how rich you people are,” he mumbles to himself.

“What does that mean?” Rapunzel asks. She’s not offended; she’s just rather wary of the unusual accusation.

Jack avoids making eye contact with her. “Nothing.” He clears his throat. “It’s just, after we all met in the cafe, I decided to google you.” Seeing their expressions, he adds, “I googled _all_ of you. I got bored, and I knew I was bound to find something. You guys attend Burgess University for crying out loud.”

“Because the totally normal thing to do is research your new friends rather than, I don’t know, ask them about their lives,” Hiccup remarks with biting sarcasm.

Jack puts his hands up in defense. “Hey, it’s not like I was looking for past criminal offenses. I just wanted to see what kind of kids attended the university. It’s an honored privilege, you know. At least, from my standpoint.” Jack raises his eyebrows. “There’s surprisingly a lot of information about you all.”

“Like what?” Merida challenges.

He walks away to search for the door to the garage, disappearing and reappearing from sight as he checks down small corridors. They hear his voice echo around the empty house. “Like how your parents, Ms. DunBroch, helped revive a small whiskey production company, and now it’s flourishing bigger than ever, owing to your family’s wealth for the past twenty-some years.”

Jack pops out one of the hallways to look at her, then continues, his search. “And Rapunzel’s father comes from a long legacy of government officials. In fact, he’s a senator.”

Hiccup and Merida look at Rapunzel with raised eyebrows, and she nods in confirmation.

“Found it!” They hear Jack open the a door. Then, “That’s a lot of boxes.”

“Hold on,” Merida follows him, a lot more interested now. “What do you know about Haddock?”

“You mean besides the fact that he’s still sad about his girlfriend breaking up with him?” Jack asks coyly.

Hiccup groans. “Uncalled for.”

They all follow the sound of Jack’s voice into the garage. It’s a spacious room, but instead of expensive cars, a neat arrangement of boxes were placed in the middle. Compared to the size of the garage, it doesn’t look like much, but as they walk up to the pile, Merida wonders if all of the boxes will fit.

Jack speaks up suddenly. “Hiccup got a free ride to his last college, and currently all his scholarships cover his expenses at BU. He won this huge robotics competition in New York when he was eighteen. So our little Hiccup here’s a bit of a genius.” Jack turns to his friend. “I’m surprised you didn’t choose that school in California. I read that they really wanted you.”

Rapunzel stares at Hiccup in astonishment. Merida looks him up and down and says, “Genius?” with a small smirk.

Jack claps his hands together, gathering their attention. “Okay, let’s get started.”

 

Fortunately, each individual box isn’t too heavy for one person to carry, but there are quite a lot to pack into the cargo van, especially since the backseat makes for limited space. Hiccup suggests that they try unpacking some boxes to see if there were things they could take out and put in the back seat with them. He and Rapunzel pry some boxes open in the garage and take out the contents while Jack and Merida haul some more boxes outside.

“These toys are all brand new,” Rapunzel comments, running her fingers over the plastic casings.

Hiccups nods. “Yeah, and there’s extra batteries attached to this one.” He lifts up an electronic baby toy to show her. The extra batteries are duct-taped to the box.

“That’s awfully nice of him,” she says.

“Yet he couldn’t get someone to deliver these down the mountain?” Hiccup asks no one in particular.

Rapunzel chuckled. “He’s not a very good space saver, either.”

Merida comes running into the garage from the outside. “Move out of the way, Jack’s parking the van.” She’s coughing and shaking snowflakes out of her hair when Rapunzel rushes up to her.

“Are you okay?” Rapunzel asks worriedly.

“I think it’s a storm,” Merida says.

The cargo van pulls up into the garage, and Hiccup and Rapunzel notice the low howl of wind outside. Jack comes out of the vehicle and rushes to the button that closes the garage door.

Once it’s fully closed, Jack says, “The wind started picking up all of a sudden.”

They go back inside the house, grateful for the warmth. Outside, the snow is swirling, leaving low visibility through the windows.

Hiccup takes out his phone. “I don’t have any cell signal. Did anyone get a storm warning?”

All at once, the rest of them check their cells. Merida and Rapunzel have no signal, either.

“I got it,” Jack says, noticing his feeble connection. “Barely.” He quickly dials a number. “Hey, North?”

“Jack!” North’s deep voice resonates. “Where are you? There’s a blizzard coming!”

“Yeah, we know. It’s here.” Jack speaks loudly to make sure he’s heard, startling the rest of them. “We’re at the DeLuna’s estate, but there’s no way we can drive back in this weather.”

“Don’t drive back!” North warns them. The call is breaking.

“I know!” Jack responds, louder.

“I will tell Manny you are there. Stay in the house.”

“Okay, will do.” Jack sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “But do you know how long the storm’s going to last?”

No answer.

“North?” Jack checks his phone screen.

No signal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh. "School in California." Sorry for the cheesy chapter summary, by the way.


	4. wine and whittling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting over the initial surprise of being snowed into a rich man's vacation home, the four get a chance to unwind after dinner.

“There’s no landline!” Hiccup exclaims in frustration, groaning and seating himself near Rapunzel on the couch.

“People still use those?” Jack jokes, earning him a disgruntled sigh. “Kidding, man. I actually have one at home. It’s just a joke.” Although, it doesn’t help the situation much.

“At least we finished packing up the rest of the boxes,” Rapunzel offers.

“But we’re cut off from the rest of civilization,” Merida reminds her. “What kind of house doesn’t have a computer? Especially this one?”

“Guys, relax,” Jack says. “We’re adults. We’ll live. It’s not the apocalypse. So what if we probably have to stay through the night? No big deal.”

Merida narrows her eyes at him, “Coming from the bloke who said we’d be home by dinner.”

“Your highness, if I could control the blizzard, I would,” Jack replies, a little irritated now.

“Would you _stop_ with the ‘your highness’ thing?”

They continue to bicker and talk over one another, and all of them are congregated in the spacious sitting room, the blizzard outside showing no signs of ceasing. At least the power works and the heater is on, otherwise Hiccup is pretty sure they might have torn each other to pieces by now.

Rapunzel loudly clears her throat, garnering all their attention. “We shouldn’t be arguing like this right now. It’ll only make this worse.”

“She’s right,” Hiccup chimes in. “It’s going to be a long night if this keeps up.”

Jack looks at Hiccup and then over at Rapunzel before sighing defeatedly. Merida reaches a hand out as he turns to her. “Truce?” she asks. Jack shakes her hand firmly, a bemused smile on his face.

“What now?” he asks them.

“Well, we’re probably going to need to eat something,” Rapunzel says, getting up off the couch. “I think the kitchen’s that way. I’ll see if there’s anything.”

“Oh, here, let me help you with that,” Jack gets up after her. “I can cook a thing or two when I feel like it.” He ignores the skeptical expression on Hiccup’s face.

The two of them walk away together towards the kitchen, leaving an awkward silence between Hiccup and Merida back in the sitting room. Hiccup has nothing against Merida, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that she has something against _him_. Their interactions aree usually brief; the longest they’d spent next to each other had been during the hour-long car ride to the estate, and that had been no good for either of them.

Merida doesn’t dislike Hiccup, but she does think he’s a little strange. Still, she hardly knows anything about him besides word of mouth. Most people become known to Merida through reputation, although, she hardly goes out of her way to talk to them unless she needs something. From what she can see now, Hiccup doesn’t particularly like interacting with people, except maybe Jack, and he keeps a lot of thoughts to himself. Whatever Rapunzel sees in this guy, Merida’s curious to see for herself.

“I guess we’re in good hands for dinner tonight,” Merida says finally, an attempt to get him talking. Hiccup raises an eyebrow, and she adds, “Punzie. She’s a pretty good cook if you ask me.”

Hiccup is still wary, but he nods. “That is, if she and Jack can find anything.”

“They’re probably very resourceful.”

“Probably.” Hiccup chuckles a bit, but he’s still staring at the ornate coffee table in the middle of the room.

Merida leans forward and looks at him from across the coffee table. Time to be diplomatic. “Okay, look. I’m sorry for being...overbearing.” She had learned that apologizing will normally soften people up a little, even though swallowing her pride doesn’t always come so easily. But this is enough to at least earn his eye contact, so Merida continues. “As far as this little group goes—” she gestures towards the kitchen and towards themselves “—it’s new to all of us, so it’s going to take some getting used to.”

Hiccup frowns. “You’re saying that as if you’re obligated to be friends with us.”

“Uh.” Merida doesn’t know how to respond to that at first. “No, no. I wouldn’t say obligated.”

 _Rapunzel just really fancies you for some reason, so she wants to hang out with you any chance we get, even if it means having to drag me along_ , she thinks to herself.

Merida shakes the thought out of her head. “I just think it’ll be good for Punzie to make some new friends. Her old ones weren’t exactly the most charming bunch.”

“So you’re just looking out for her.” Hiccup says. Something about the way he voices that statement and the know-it-all look he gives her makes Merida want to punch him. “You know, she’s old enough to handle herself. Besides, she has you as s friend, doesn’t she?”

“There’s strength in numbers.” Merida shrugs.

“If you say so.” Hiccups goes back to staring at the coffee table.

She tilts her head. “So, Haddock. Are we good?”

“As long as you don’t put me in another headlock.” He glances at her with a bit of a twinkle in his eyes.

Merida laughs. “Deal.” She hops up off the couch and stretches. “Well, I’m going to go exploring. There has to be something to do in this mansion of a vacation home.”

* * *

Dinner isn’t doomed, thankfully. Jack and Rapunzel manage to find pastas and canned goods in the pantry, which is more than enough to get them all through the night.

Helping Rapunzel with the food isn’t really a ploy for Jack to impress her, but he is going to take whatever chances he can get. You don’t just happen upon beautiful girls like that. Well, Jack doesn’t, so he resolves that he’s going to try his best to get to know her. Where’s the harm?

“Do you think they’ll be alright in there by themselves?” Rapunzel wonders, pouring the pasta into a pot of water that’s boiling over the stove.

Jack takes some canned tomato sauce and empties it out into a saucepan, setting it on the stove next to the pasta pot and turning on the heat. “I hope so,” he chuckles.

Rapunzel taps the wooden spoon lightly against the rim of the pot. “After what happened on the car ride here, I feel like it’s really going to be hard for them to get along.” She frowns with uncertainty.

“I wouldn’t worry too much.” Jack smiles at Rapunzel. “Hiccup can be aloof, but all you need is a little push to get him to open up.”

As she stirs the contents of the pot, Rapunzel laughs. “I think Merida’s kind of like that, too.”

“Then we just let them butt heads for a little while until they get tired of it.” Jack pats Rapunzel’s shoulder. “It’ll be fine. They can’t hate each other forever.”

“I guess you’re right.” She cracks a smile, turning back to the food. As she stirs the pasta, she begins mumbling to herself. “It’s pretty lucky for me that Pascal only eats once every other day. I won’t have to worry about feeding him until tomorrow night.”

“Pascal?” Jack raises his eyebrow while stirring his own pot and adding some seasoning.

“My chameleon.”

“Funny. Pegged you to be more of a horse girl, or something.”

“You should probably ask Merida about horses.”

* * *

They make quick work of the dinner preparations, and soon the four of them are sitting together and scarfing down their plates of spaghetti. While the food doesn’t exactly scream fine dining, the setting does. The four had placed themselves in DeLuna’s dining room—well, more like dining hall.

The first thing Jack notices is that the tensions between Hiccup and Merida had subsided, which he takes as a good sign. As the group’s small talk goes on through dinner, Jack sees their glimmers of annoyance with each other from time to time, but Merida doesn’t go all WWE at the table.

Rapunzel’s relieved, too. It’s a little selfish, but she had been afraid of how to talk with Hiccup if he and Merida had become enemies. It’s Merida’s help that had gotten her this far to begin with. Plus, Rapunzel doesn’t want to lose any more friends.

For the next hour or so, the conversation flows naturally. Jack makes a few corny jokes to lighten the mood in spite of the disapproving groans, and Merida recounts the ridiculous tales that her father always tells at the dinner table. Rapunzel and Hiccup don’t necessarily initiate topic changes, but their reactions are enough to keep them engaged.  Perhaps everyone’s good spirits are due to their not-so-empty stomachs, but dinner actually becomes sort of fun.

After they eat, the four of them move to another room: an upstairs loft that Merida had found during her explorations throughout the estate. The window shows the blizzard still raging outside, but no one is really disappointed anymore. Once they had settled down and gotten over their frustrations of being stranded, the four of them are able to appreciate better the luxuries that the estate has to offer.

Though the loft is smaller than the sitting room, it’s somewhat busier. There’s a bookshelf against one wall and even a bed set up in the far corner across from a small sofa. Lights on the walls illuminated the room, with a plush rug in front of a fireplace. The interior design doesn’t quite match the cabin theme of the rest of the house; it’s largely reminiscent of a studio apartment, except for maybe the flue.

“Is this a private room?” Hiccup asks cautiously.

“Don’t get so worked up, Haddock,” Merida chides him. “I didn’t have to pick the lock on this one. I’m sure it’s fine if we leave it as we found it.”

Hiccup is taken aback. “You went lock picking?”

Merida shrugs. “Just a few doors. Nothing particularly interesting, though.”

“What did you use?” Jack asks, completely unperturbed.

The redhead pulls out a small screwdriver from her pocket and tosses it to Jack to examine. He nods appreciatively and says, “I’m more a fan of paperclips.”

Merida scoffs and takes back her screwdriver.

“Isn’t that illegal?” Hiccup protests.

Rapunzel walks up to the window, staring out at the blizzard. “How long has it been? Since the storm started, I mean.”

“A few hours,” Jack replies, taking out his cell phone to check the time. “Yeah, just over two hours. And still no signal,” he laments. “Even if it stopped, we’d be snowed in until at least morning.”

Hiccup and Jack take a seat on the rug. Merida plants herself onto the sofa and leans back. “Well, my phone is dead,” she announces. “But I suppose the night is still young, isn’t it?”

“If you’re implying we get hammered,” Jack begins, “you’re out of luck because I have no clue where the liquor is.”

“I don’t drink,” Hiccup automatically interjects.

“Oh, right,” Merida says. “You have that whole nerd reputation to uphold.”

“You know, you and Jack have an insult problem.”

“You’re just an easy target, is all.”

Hiccup grumbles unintelligibly, causing everyone to laugh. Jack slings an arm around Hiccup’s shoulders, trying to cheer him up. Merida looks up at Rapunzel, who had taken a seat on the foot of the bed. “How ‘bout you, blondie? Drink anything besides red wine?”

“I’m not exactly a connoisseur of this stuff,” Rapunzel readily admits. She thinks for a moment. “I remember once I got an appletini?” It comes out sounding more like a question. “I actually really liked it.”

“Vodka.” Merida raises her eyebrows. “A little unexpected if you ask me.”

“Do I not look like the hard liquor type?” Rapunzel teases, grinning with a bit of mischief.

Merida narrows her eyes jokingly at Rapunzel for a few seconds before chuckling. “Epsilon Omega?” she ventures. It makes a lot of sense, now that she thinks about it..

Rapunzel nods.

“What the hell is Epsilon Omega?” Hiccup scrunches his nose.

“Sorority?” Jack guesses. “Rapunzel, you’re a sorority girl?”

“Former,” she corrects. “It didn’t really work out.”

“Haddock, how’ve you no clue what Epsilon Omega is?” Merida asks. “Everyone on campus knows about them. You’d have to learn of them somehow.”

Hiccup leans back on his hands. “Well, Miss ‘I’ve-got-dirt-on-everyone,’ Burg is a pretty big campus.”

Before Merida can get angry at Hiccup’s smart-aleck remark, Jack pipes in again. “Ooh. University gossip.”

“Merida doesn’t go looking for gossip,” Rapunzel defends. “She just knows what she hears.”

“Well, if you know so much about other people, DunBroch,” Hiccup starts, “I bet a lot of people talk about you, too. Most people who attend Burg probably wouldn’t need to google you.” He razzes Jack with a look.

Merida rolls hers eyes. “I’m well aware of that.”

“Well, I know nothing about Burgess University,” Jack says before looking bewildered. “Or Burg, whatever you just called it, so any information is welcome to me.”

“First,” Merida insists, “we find the drinks.”

* * *

Merida and Jack go back to the kitchen in search of anything alcoholic since the hard liquor is nowhere to be found. They come across a bottle of dessert wine, which Merida deems good enough, so they take the bottle and four wine glasses back up to the loft.

Hiccup insists that he won’t drink any, but Jack convinces him to have just one glass. They all make a toast to getting out of the blizzard alive, and the engineering student shows impeccable self-restraint by abstaining from any more wine after that. The rest of them agree not to get completely  wasted (assuming they could) because, while it would be fun, they need their wits about them in the morning.

One glass in and Merida begins with the gossip. Jack thinks it is a lot more interesting than he had anticipated. Maybe it’s the alcohol. It’s like learning about life on another planet—even if he’s living in the same city as the school, the lifestyle is just about as foreign to him as Mars.

He finally understands what Hiccup had meant about Burg being “unofficially split in two.” Merida’s conversation dives right into student life. While the only club she’s affiliated with is the archery club, Merida personally knows people from many on-campus organizations, with one of the exceptions being Rapunzel’s former sorority, funnily enough. Merida describes Burg with enthusiasm, explaining how much the philosophy of “it’s not what you know; it’s _who_ you know” applies to the majority of Burg students.

“See, what I realized,” she says, her near-empty wine glass wobbling between her fingers, “is that we all come in knowing the same things, anyways. For example, I know just as much as any other business student that’s gone through the motions. That’s why, especially at Burg, it just pays to know who’s who and how they can help you.”

The best way to get to know these Burg students is, of course, social events. Whether university-sanctioned or off-campus, people easily open up in a setting that is much more lax and where academics aren’t a priority. Booze also helped. Merida even mentions the time she had been invited to a cotillion, although Jack and Hiccup have a hard time believing that the redhead willingly put on a dress for such a thing.

Rapunzel’s account of school life naturally revolves around her past sorority experiences. Epsilon Omega has a reputation for being a bit wild, gathering up all the rich girls from uptight households that want a place to let loose. They like throwing parties and socials and hosting inter-sorority sleepovers. Members have various responsibilities around the house, but overall, it seems that Rapunzel had been living quite a life.

Being in her sorority is about making good friends, which is unfortunately where Rapunzel had gone wrong. She had picked the wrong people to hang out with, and while it isn’t a huge blow to her pride, Rapunzel confesses, “I feel pretty setback socially. Merida was the first person to really talk with me since the beginning of the semester.” She takes another sip of wine.

“Well, I know I wouldn’t have the courage to approach you if I knew who you were,” Hiccup tells her. “Your guys’ part of the world is pretty hard to relate to if you’re not already in it.”

“Oh, please,” Merida scoffs. “We go to the same school, don’t we?” She and Rapunzel have matching expressions of confusion.

“Yeah, engineering grad students always attend sorority sleepovers.” Hiccup quirks an eyebrow. “There is a part of the student body that has to overcome financial obstacles in order to attend Burg, you know. We tend not to run with your lot.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Merida argues, slurring slightly over the word _ridiculous_.

“Why do you say that?” Rapunzel inquires over Merida’s comment.

Hiccup scratches the back of his head. “If you ask me, a lot of us are still trying to prove we belong here at this oh-so-prestigious college. We can’t do it with money, so we try with GPAs. We literally cannot afford to go your parties or out clubbing or whatever.”

Rapunzel’s face softens in sympathy. “You don’t have to prove anything, though. You’re already accepted here, aren’t you? That says a lot. And our engineering program is one of the best in the country.”

“I thought everything was going pretty good, too,” Hiccup agrees, “until I actually started going to Burg. It’s just weird being accepted somewhere and still feeling you don’t belong.”

They were all quiet for a moment, letting the wind howl outside. Their talk had started out so lighthearted, and now Hiccup’s statement seems to weigh a bit heavy in their minds.

Jack sets his wine glass down on the floor, lies down and unceremoniously sprawls out, forcing Hiccup to scoot to a corner of the rug to avoid getting hit. “This is a good chat, you guys,” he congratulates them. “You see, this is what having a close group of friends feels like. Heart-to-hearts in front of a fireplace with no fire, snow swirling angrily outside the window—”

“We’re not close,” Merida reminds him.

“Never know what the future holds, your highness.”

Merida doesn’t even bother picking a fight. She just makes a loud, disapproving noise and rolls her eyes. Hiccup nudges Jack’s shoulder saying, “It’s not like you really said anything in the past twenty minutes.”

“Didn’t have to.” Jack puts his hands underneath the back of his head and closes his eyes contentedly. “Burgess University is about you three; I have no part in it, so I thought I’d enjoy myself and relax.”

“So, which school do you go to, Jack?” Rapunzel raises her eyebrows.

“I’m done with school.”

“Is that right?” Merida purses her lips. “Could’ve sworn you were younger than us.”

“I get that a lot,” Jack muses.

“What did you study?” Rapunzel presses.

“Funny story.” Jack still doesn’t open his eyes. “I said I was done, but I never actually _finished_ college, even though I would have by now. And I don’t plan on going back to school, either.”

The three Burg students look at him incredulously, thinking at first that it has to be some sort of joke. Jack isn’t smiling though, and concern washes over them. Hiccup makes Jack sit upright again while they bombard him for an explanation.

“What happened?” Hiccup asks, eyebrows knitting together.

Jack doesn’t like telling his college dropout story. It brings too much pity on him. He hates that the most. But he knows Merida, Rapunzel, and Hiccup probably deserve something more than “funny story.”

 _I should stop making casual comments like that_ , he tells himself.

“I went to college in Boston,” he explains. “Standards were pretty far below Burg. Then, there was a family emergency. What exactly happened isn’t important, though. They’re in Minnesota, so I had to leave the east coast to try and fix things up. It’s complicated.”

Hiccup is the only one who dares to ask more. “And you somehow ended up in Pennsylvania?”

Jack shrugged. “Meeting North was a complete stroke of luck, and he took me in when I had no one else. I’ve always been a loner, you know, nothing special. Especially never got a chance to go somewhere like Burgess University.” Jack smiles wryly at Hiccup. “That enough heart-to-heart for one night?”

No more questions, but whatever falling-out Jack had had with his family, it seems bad. Jack’s impish demeanor is replaced with solemnity, which is strange for the rest of the group to see.

Merida clears her throat awkwardly and downs the rest of the wine in her glass (it must be at least her third). Hiccup reaches over and pats Jack on the back sympathetically. Rapunzel sets her glass aside and goes over next to Jack, putting an arm around his shoulders. He looks at her in surprise. She smiles at him compassionately before giving his shoulders a squeeze.

“Just in case you’re worried,” she says, “I don’t think any of us here are going to think any less of you just because you’re a college dropout.” Hiccup and Merida voice their agreements.

Jack chuckles dryly. “Thank, guys.”

“And whatever happened with your family,” Rapunzel continues, “we won’t hold it against you.”

Jack looks at all of them appreciatively. “You know, Kristoff and North are the only other people that know about this, so you guys should feel pretty special right now.”

Hiccup groans. “What’s so great about third place?” Jack shoves him to the side jokingly. “I’m kidding. Plus, I’m in no position to judge you about family problems. I haven’t even met my own mom.”

Everyone fixes their eyes on Hiccup in disbelief.

“What?” he asks.

Merida raises her eyebrows. “You don’t just drop that kind of information on people out of the blue.”

“It’s not that big a deal, really,” Hiccup insists. “There are a ton of single parents all over the country.”

“There has to be more to it than that,” Rapunzel urges.

Hiccup looks at everyone’s expectant faces and sighs. “I would tell you if I knew, but she left when I was a baby. My dad never talks about her.”

“Now, don’t you go pulling sour faces, too,” Merida chides him, picking up the wine bottle and offering it to him. “You and Jack should have another glass.” Of course, Hiccup refuses, but Jack readily takes the bottle and pours himself another helping before handing it back to her.

“Since we’re sharing,” Merida goes on as she fills up her own glass, “I’m not on best terms with my mum and dad, either.”

“Did they cut you off?” Jack asks, before realizing it’s a bit insensitive.

“Not exactly,” Merida responds. “But they’ve been insisting that I think about marriage.”

Rapunzel tilts her head. “Seems to me like most parents want their children to marry someday.”

“Someday,” Merida echoes. “Not right away. It’s rubbish.”

“No offense,” Hiccup interjects, “but you don’t think you might be overreacting a bit?”

“Overreacting is what had me fighting with my mum in the first place,” Merida tells them. “It was just before I left for the U.S. We’ve smoothed almost everything over, but every holiday she tries to find me a new ‘suitor.’ Of course, she doesn’t say it outright. There always has to be some sort of cover so it doesn’t look like she’s forcing it upon me.” She sighs. “We’re still walking on eggshells around each other.”

“Is that why you aren’t spending Christmas with them this year?” Rapunzel asks, wide-eyed.

Merida nods. “Basically.”

“You’re an adult now,” Jack says. “What’s the worst they can do?”

“You’d be surprised what parents are capable of when they’re equally as stubborn as their child,” Merida explains.

“Amen to that,” Hiccup says.

“Why are your folks making it such a big deal, though?” Jack is obviously puzzled. “Most people nowadays don’t even start thinking about marriage until they’re, like, thirty or something, right?”

Merida pulls a face. “You ever heard of merger marriages?”

“Don’t those only happen in movies?” Jack knits his brow.

“To be fair,” Rapunzel chimes in, “I think it’s pretty common. In a lot of cases, corporate mergers become synonymous with marriage.”

“You know, it feels good to talk about it, finally.” Merida stretches her legs across on the couch. “Or maybe it’s the wine.” She examines the dark liquid in her glass and swishes it around.

“You _have_ had more than the rest of us,” Jack points out. He turns to Rapunzel. “How about you, princess? Anything on your mind?”

The blonde shrugs indifferently. “Home life was a little boring. My mother and father are usually just very busy, and I’ve been homeschooled all my life before Burg. I hardly ever left the property.”

“Homeschooled?” Hiccup repeats. “Until you were eighteen?”

“It’s a little weird, isn’t it?” Rapunzel scrunches her nose up in embarrassment. “I mean, my parents were kind of overprotective.”

“All your life at home and suddenly plunged into college world,” Jack mutters. “That’s a huge change. I give you props.”

“Well, given the fact that it’s taken me almost four years to figure out which people were really my friends,” Rapunzel says, “I’m not sure I’ve been handling it very well.”

“You’re doing fine,” Jack reassures her. “You’ve made it this far, Rapunzel, so I’d say you’re gonna be okay.”

“I’m just afraid the real world won’t be so forgiving,” Rapunzel confides. She glances at all of them. “I know we barely know each other, but if I’m being honest, I really liked past few times we’ve all hung out.”

“You mean today and last week?” Hiccup remarks.

They all laugh.

“She has a point though,” Jack says. “There are no other people I’d rather be stuck in a deluxe cabin with.”

“That’s because you have no other friends,” Hiccup ribs.

Jack slaps him lazily on the shoulder. After another round of laughter, Merida lets out a huge yawn. “Well, we’ve just about finished this bottle. I’m ready to get some sleep.”

“Oh, I call the bed!” Rapunzel stands up quickly to stake her claim.

“I’m fine here.” Merida waves a hand idly and spreads herself across the sofa.

Jack stands up, shaking his head in disbelief. “We should’ve called dibs on this room first.”

“Well, I guess we’ll find somewhere else, then,” Hiccup laughs.

 

Hiccup, Merida, and Rapunzel wake up long before Jack does. They decide to let him sleep in since he’s the driver, although Merida complains that the only reason she’s even up is because Rapunzel rises out of bed so damn early. By the time Jack does get up, they’re already finishing up packing away all the toys into the van.

“Wow,” Jack comments as he enters the garage. “I see you guys have been busy.”

“For the record,” Merida says, “if it were up to me, you’d be suffering through this labor with us.”

Rapunzel laughs. “We just wanted to make sure you got enough sleep.”

“Thanks to you guys, I guess I’ve gotten more than enough,” Jack assures them, rubbing at his eyes.

“Great.” Hiccup comes from around the van and tosses the keys to Jack. “I want to go home. The roads are clear now, and I shoveled the snow out of the driveway.”

Jack catches the keys and stares at Hiccup, a bit impressed. “So we’re good to go?”

“Soon as you get behind the wheel, we can leave,” Hiccup confirms.

“You know, I’m gonna miss this place,” Merida admits.

“Me too,” Jack concurs. “Thanks for helping me out here, guys. I know you wouldn’t have been stuck here with me if I hadn’t dragged you all along.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble,” Rapunzel says.

Merida shrugs. “I had no plans this weekend anyways.

“Hey, Jack did you know you have gray hair?” Hiccup asks abruptly, squinting at Jack’s head.

“I do not!” Jack protests.

Rapunzel walks up to them to take a closer look. She gasps a little. “You do! It’s starting in the back, I think.”

“What?”

The three of them crowd around Jack, which makes him really self-conscious. Hiccup even goes so far as to pluck one of the hairs out to show Jack.

Jack examines the hair carefully. “Well, my dad had gray hair early on, too.” He frowns. “Huh.”

For some reason, Merida finds this hilarious, and she laughs out loud, causing Jack to glare at her.

“Okay, okay,” he says, rolling his eyes and pulling on his hood. “Now, if you’re all done making fun of me, one of you stay here to close the garage door after I back out into the driveway, and then you all can get your asses in the car.”

Hiccup takes the shotgun seat while Merida and Rapunzel ride in the back. Once they get onto the highway, Merida speaks up. “Just so we’re clear, anything we talked about last night stays among the four of us.”

“It’s not like we were in Vegas,” Jack replies.

“I mean it, Jack,” Merida warns.

“Yes, yes, I know.”

* * *

 

The drive back to the city of Burgess is quiet. Overall, the route seems a lot shorter than it had been the day before. In the middle of the drive, Jack offers to drop each of them off wherever they need to be.

“I’m not in the mood to go back to the school,” Merida tells him.

“You live on campus?” Hiccup asks. “Where?”

“In the suites,” Merida replies simply. “Where else?”

“Oh.” Hiccup pauses. “I live in the university apartments.”

“So, does anyone want to go home?” Jack asks again.

“I do,” Hiccup responds immediately. “I think I’ve said it already.”

“I don’t mind staying out for a while longer,” Rapunzel offers.

They discuss their plans for a few minutes, trying to figure out what it is they can do when they get back to Burgess. Rapunzel manages to convince Hiccup to not go back to the university yet, but in the end, they still can’t think of a place to go.

“So, Jack, where are you taking these toys again?” Merida questions.

“I’m just going back to our place,” Jack says. “Mine and North’s, that is. He said he’ll take care of it from there, although it’s kind of hard to tell what he’s up to at any given time.”

“Perfect!” the redhead exclaims. “Then it’s settled. We’re going to Jack’s house.”

“Wait what?” Jack tries to hide how alarmed he is by the prospect. Their house is never prepared for visitors. Especially for people on whom Jack is trying to make a good impression.

“If you don’t mind, of course.” Rapunzel modifies the statement, but there’s a bit of double-meaning in her tone as she smiles at him through the rearview mirror.

“It’s just a regular old house on the other side of town.” Jack racks his brains for another excuse, but he finds that he can’t refuse her, so he concedes. “All right, my house it is, then.”

When they reach his neighborhood, Jack hopes that North has some sort of reason that prevents Hiccup, Merida, and Rapunzel from entering the house. It’s a pipe dream, of course, because North loves people, and as soon as he sees Jack with his buddies, he’s grinning from ear to ear.

“You’re okay, yes?” North asks before giving Jack a spine-crushing hug. “And you’ve brought company! Wonderful!”

Jack coughs upon his release for North’s death grip. “I was gone for a night, North. I wasn’t marooned on an island.”

“Still, I am glad.” North smiles, walking up to the other three and ushering them inside the house. “Come, come, it’s almost lunch time! Jack will make something for us to eat.”

“Excuse me?” Jack splutters.

North returns to retrieve him. “Now, now,” he reproves, slinging a beefy arm around Jack’s shoulders and steering him through the front door. “Can’t be rude to our guests, can we?”

The house is far from lavish, and it’s a little cramped. Fortunately, there’s more than enough room for two people to live in it, but adding three more people occupies much of the remaining space.

While Jack grumbles and heads to the kitchen, the rest of the young adults walk into the living room. The first thing they notice is the smell of pine and peppermint. Looking around, it’s difficult to tell how old the place really is. The carpet is worn, the small couch exhibits patches of discoloration, and the wooden coffee table is riddled with nicks and scratches. On the side, however, there’s a tall glass case with shelves full of painted figurines of various shapes and sizes—a miniature rocking horse, a graceful, angelic ballerina, a butterfly perched on a flower. All of them are in pristine condition. The colorful display contrasts with the earthy tones of the room, but they’re nice to look at.

“It's smells like Christmas in here,” Hiccup says, though it’s hard to tell from his expression whether or not he finds this to be a good thing.

“It's December, after all, Haddock,” Merida says.

“Something tells me it always smells like this in here,” Hiccup counters.

The three of them gravitate towards the glass case.

“Aren’t these so pretty?” Rapunzel breathes. “Look at the paint finishes!”

A resounding voice behind them cause them all to jump. “Go ahead and open the case, if you like. Those are just little projects. To fight boredom.”

“You make these as a hobby?” Hiccup asks him. “Are you sure you’re not actually Santa Claus?” He glances at the intricate pattern of tattoos on North’s forearms. “Or in a biker gang?” he adds under his breath. With the accent and the buffness, Hiccup would have easily assumed former Russian Mafia leader.

North lets out what might be the jolliest laugh Hiccup has ever heard in his life, which almost confirms his first theory. The old man reaches out to mess up Hiccup’s hair with a heavy hand. Hiccup is surprised at how tall North truly is standing face-to-face. He has to be at least the same height as Hiccup’s dad, and Hiccup’s dad is the tallest person Hiccup knows.

“I like you,” North announces, slapping Hiccup on the back.

Hiccup can only grunt in reply.

“Mr. North?” Rapunzel asks, cradling what looks like a giant Easter egg painted by Van Gogh. The pattern etched into the surface is similar to North's tattoos.

“Please, call me North!” he says cheerfully.

“North,” Rapunzel corrects, nodding. She holds up the egg. “If you don’t mind me asking, what paints do you use for these? These colors are absolutely breathtaking.”

“Glad you ask.” North takes a step towards her He talks with his hands making gestures around the egg for emphasis. “I have a friend, Aster, who owns art shop downtown. He recommends these to me, and voila!” He looks rather pleased with himself.

“Oh, I must visit there sometime,” Rapunzel decides, returning the egg to its designated spot.

“I know a woman in Scotland,” Merida recalls. “Excellent woodcarver. You’re almost as good as she is.” She points back at the glass case with her thumb. “Those _are_ wood, right?”

Rapunzel shushes her a little, since her comment is a tad disrespectful, but North only grins. “Whittling is not my strong suit,” he confesses.

Hiccups side eyes North’s creations. “Gee, could’ve fooled me.”

Jack pokes his head into the living room. “Hey, North,” he calls. “I’ve been looking everywhere in the kitchen, but we have nowhere near enough food for five people today.”

“You’ll figure out something.” North doesn’t look the least disturbed at this news.

“Yeah, I know.” Jack holds up the house phone. “I already ordered the pizza. Pepperoni’s okay with everyone, right?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any earlier readers noticed, I decided to write "Burg" as an abbreviation for "Burgess University" to differentiate between the city and the college. "BU" makes me think of Boston University, so I wanted to figure out a way to use it less often. I changed some of it in the other chapters, too. Just in case anyone was confused.


End file.
